A video of an elderly Indigenous man being tripped and thrown to the ground by a WA Police officer in Broome has sparked anger from the local community and beyond.
The video shows an officer speaking to the man, who raises his arm slowly and appears to point or gesture towards the inside of the police vehicle but without making contact with the officer, who then trips and hurls the man to the ground.
The officer then gets in his vehicle and drives away.
The person who filmed the incident shared it on social media, writing: "Smart ass go and harass people who are just chilling and having a rest under the tree. Aren't they meant to have a partner to search or pick up people who is supposedly breaking the rules? I recorded everything. He took off, search his bag then drove back to throw his bag on the ground like he was a dog. How professional, lucky my memory couldn't record the rest of the part."
The video has been viewed more than 150,000 times on the original post alone.
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A spokesperson for WA Police told National Indigenous Times the incident "will be thoroughly investigated".
"About 2:00pm Tuesday 18 February 2025, Broome Police were patrolling an oval on Hammersley Street in Broome. Police spoke with a member of the public. An altercation occurred and the man was knocked to the ground. The circumstances of this incident will be thoroughly investigated," they said.
