Mardi Gras Nightmare Tip of the Iceberg

It was supposed to be a night of fun and celebration, instead for one teenager, Mardi Gras became a living nightmare. Jamie Jackson, just eighteen years of age, was approached by the police after he innocently tickled a fellow Mardi Gras goer. Later on in the evening, Jackson was apprehended with a charge of offensive language at approximately 10PM. After a couple of minutes, the altercation became violent, with Jackson being thrown to the ground by the police officers. In new footage recently released, a woman can be heard screaming at the police officer, "We just saw you throw his head against the ground. His blood is on the ground!" Jackson commented on the situation to A Current Affair, "I could have been killed," he said, "The way they threw me on the ground, like, if I hit my head in the wrong position... it was just crazy. I was in handcuffs, what could I have done? Why did I have to get thrown down like that? Why couldn't he handle it, like, maturely?" 

Jackson claims that at the time of the tickling incident, the woman was on her phone. Initially she did not take any offense to his actions. She just turned away and continued her phone conversation. "I'm not even sure that tickling someone counted as an offence," Jackson told A Current Affair. "Okay, yes, I shouldn't have approached someone I didn't know, I understand that, but I just don't even know how it got to this point. I just don't know a simple altercation could turn into a big, massive scuffle." He says that memories of the incident are hazy, but he believes that he blacked out  after he was thrown against the ground the second time, and awoke seconds later, crying. Whether or not the appropriate level of force was used is debatable. The State MP and gay rights activist, Alex Greenwich, has spoken out about the situation, stating that is was very concerning that a police officer "body slammed" a teenage boy for swearing. He then went on to say, "If the only thing that the individual did was use offensive language, then I think that many would agree that the approach the police took to the situation and the body slam on the ground is certainly a heavy handed approach to the matter."

Jackson just hours before the incident.

Another incident that occurred on the night leads to speculation that the brutality used on young Jamie Jackson has been more prevalent in society than it may have seemed. Gay activist, Bry Hutchinson, was also assaulted on the same night. He was held down by five police officers and kicked after ignoring their instructions not to cross a road."I was kicked several times," the former convenor of the Community Action Against Homophobia said, "I had my face pushed into the ground," and perhaps the most shocking revelation yet, "I had a police officer leaning on me. I told him I couldn't breathe. He told me, 'If you can talk, you can breathe.'" Evidence like this suggests that the officers policing the Mardi Gras may have some issues that need dealing with. 

One man at a recent rally against police brutality said, "Police are constantly abusing people and taking advantage of their position of power and not being held accountable for it," Rami, 24, who did not disclose his last name, "It makes no sense to have police investigate police ... it needs to be independent and transparent." He also said that he hopes the police know that they "can't get away with everything they do. If you act outside of your power and if you take advantage of your position of power the community won't be quiet," he said.

Jamie Jackson will appear in court on the first of April, and Bryn Hutchinson will appear in court on the fifth of April.