By Frank Chung
Distressing video has emerged of a Victoria Police officer grabbing a young woman by the throat as she screams, “He’s choking me!”
The distressing footage of the woman being arrested – apparently for not wearing a face mask – was uploaded to Twitter on Tuesday.
It begins mid-confrontation, as the grey-haired male officer pulls the woman along the street with one hand around her neck.
“He’s choking me!” she yells. “He’s choking me! What the f**k! Get off of me! Get off!”
A female officer tells the woman, “Let go of his vest. Let go of his vest.”
The woman continues to yell as the officer pushes her up against the wall.
“He’s f**king choking me!” she yells. “He’s choking me. What the f**k! Get the f**k off me!”
The female officer puts a hand on the woman’s arm and says again, “Let go of his vest! Stop!”
The woman kicks at the female officer and yells, “F**k you!”
She continues to struggle with the male officer. “Stop resisting,” he says.
The female officer says, “You just kicked me in the –”
“Get the f**k off me!” the woman yells. “What are you doing? You’re f**king choking me. You’re f**king choking me, dude, what the f**k!”
The male officer then pulls her to the ground.
“You’re f**ked in the head!” she yells.
The officer rolls her over onto her stomach and sits on her back as she continues to protest.
“You’re f**ked! What the f**k are you doing to me?” she says.
The female officer tells her to put her hands behind her back.
“What have I done?” the woman asks. “What have I done wrong?”
The female officer says, “You just kicked me in the stomach!”
At this point the man filming chimes in.
“Yeah but you’re choking her,” he says. “There’s a man on a girl and you choked her.”
He yells, “For what? For a mask? For not having a mask? Look how pathetic you are! Are you serious? Just for not having a mask?”
The video then cuts out.
A longer video of the incident filmed from a nearby balcony was uploaded to YouTube.
It shows the man filming the original video continuing to berate the officer as he sits on the woman.
“You grabbed her! You didn’t ask her any questions, you d**khead, you just grabbed her!” he says.
The woman on the ground yells, “Let me stand up, I’m a f**king human being!”
As more officers arrive, the person filming from the balcony jokingly calls them the “backup crew”.
“All because she wasn’t wearing a mask!” the woman filming laughs in disbelief.
In a statement, Victoria Police confirmed the arrest had been referred for internal review.
A spokeswoman said the 21-year-old St Kilda woman was arrested in Collingwood on Monday afternoon for refusing to provide identification, in breach of the chief health officer’s directions.
Officers were patrolling on Wellington Street when they observed the woman not wearing a face mask at about 5pm.
“Police made the decision to arrest the woman after she failed to provide her name and address,” the spokeswoman said.
“She also did not state she had an exemption for not wearing a face covering. She then became physically aggressive and kicked a female officer to the upper body. The woman continued to resist arrest and had to be taken to ground before being arrested.”
The female officer was transported to hospital for observation.
The woman was taken to a police station to confirm her identity.
She was charged with resisting police and assaulting police and was bailed to appear at court at a later date.
“She did not receive a fine for failing to wear a face covering because she later told police she had an exemption,” the spokeswoman said.
“The arrest has been referred to Professional Standards Command for oversight.”
Face masks have been mandatory in Melbourne since Thursday, July 23, and in regional Victoria since the start of this month.
Police can issue on-the-spot fines of $200 to those not wearing a face covering without a legitimate reason.
Earlier this week, a Melbourne mum was filmed being pinned to the ground by officers for allegedly breaking lockdown rules.