Victoria Police Officer Seen Choking Woman After She Wasn't Wearing A Face Mask

A Victorian police officer has been seen choking a woman after confronting her about wearing a face mask.

The 21-year-old St Kilda woman was stopped by officers Monday afternoon (August 10) and asked about why she didn't have a face covering. They asked her for identification, which they allege she refused to do so.

Video footage from two angles show the male officer holding the woman by the throat while she yells and screams.

"He's choking me! He's choking me! What the f***! Get off of me! Get off!" she can be heard saying. "He's f***ing choking me! He's choking me. What the f***! Get the f*** off me!"

A female police officer tells the 21-year-old to stop holding onto her colleague's vest.

Twitter

The woman can be seen kicking in the direction of the female officer before she's swung onto the ground to be arrested.

She can be heard yelling: "You're f***ed in the head! You're f***ed! What the f*** are you doing to me? What have I done? What have I done wrong?"

A person who was filming the encounter chimed in and tried to tell the police officer to get off the 21-year-old woman. He complained that all this was because she wasn't wearing a face mask and it was an excessive use of force.

A video from another angle also shows the confronting melee play out from above.

Twitter

Victoria Police says the incident has been referred for internal review.

A spokesperson for the force said in a statement: "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. 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 21-year-old was taken to a police station to confirm who she is before she was charged with resisting police and assaulting police and was bailed to appear at court at a later date.

The woman was able to prove she has a medical exemption for not wearing a face mask and, as a result, she wasn't fined the usual $200.

Topics: News, Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie