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A former ASIO officer is suing Queensland police for $750,000 in damages over what he claims was a wrongful arrest involving an officer who told him: "we can put a bullet in your f***in' head and get a medal".
Paul Gibbons alleges a chance encounter with police escalated after officers were annoyed at waiting just under 10 seconds before he let them into the locked lobby of a Gold Coast hotel.
The officers were responding to a call for an unrelated matter at the hotel, where Mr Gibbons was staying for his honeymoon in 2016.
Mr Gibbons, who launched his lawsuit in the Brisbane district court last Thursday, alleged he was put in a deadly chokehold and subjected to outrageous and humiliating threats and abuse.
His claim stated he was targeted by the officers "for the perceived slight of not immediately allowing police access to the locked foyer [or] not according them sufficient deference or respect".
'He made us wait'
Mr Gibbons, also a former Australian federal police agent, alleged he was threatened with arrest for obstructing police, then surrounded after he began filming the officers with his mobile phone.
He alleged when a senior constable suggested the group move on to their investigation, a constable said:
"Naaah f**k him, I want to lock the c**t up. He made us wait."
Mr Gibbons alleged when he asked what authority they had to require entry, that officer pointed to his gun and said: "See this, this is my authority to enter."
"When we tell you to do something, you don't ask questions. You f**king do it!
"Hell, we can put a bullet in your f***in' head and get a medal," the officer allegedly said to Mr Gibbons.
Mr Gibbons claims another officer said his mobile recording was "easily remedied", adding, "sounds like he needs to learn some respect", before shining his flashlight into the phone camera.
An officer demanded the phone and grabbed it before Mr Gibbons was wrestled to the ground and handcuffed.
Gibbons 'feared his throat would be crushed'
His claim alleges another officer squeezed his throat with enough force that he "reasonably feared his trachea would be crushed".
"I'm going to kill you c*** … [and] when we get you out to the truck, I'm going to smash your f***ing face in c***," the officer later allegedly told him.
An officer who could not access Mr Gibbons' phone allegedly told him: "Unlock the phone c*** or I'll smash it."
Mr Gibbons cooperated and the officer deleted data from the phone including video of the incident.
The former federal agent was released without charge but claims the senior constable warned him he would be charged "if you leave your room tonight or make a complaint".
Mr Gibbons claims he was subject to mistreatment including "assault, battery, wrongful arrest [and] false imprisonment".
He claims he suffered "hurt, humiliation, outrage [and] anxiety", and is also claiming $50,000 in economic loss because he "lost the ability to sell the recording of the incident to the news media".
The lawsuit claims aggravated damages because of his treatment during an internal police investigation.
That Ethical Standards Command probe resulted in minor reprimands of some of the officers for swearing at Mr Gibbons, but found no evidence to support more serious complaints.
The Crime and Corruption Commission also intervened to insist on reprimands over deleting the mobile phone footage, and new ground rules for officers' use of body-worn cameras.
The state of Queensland, on behalf of police, has not yet filed a reply to the suit.
A police spokesman was contacted for comment.
Topics: police, corruption, activism-and-lobbying, government-and-politics, public-sector, law-crime-and-justice, surfers-paradise-4217, brisbane-4000, qld, australia
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