WATCH: Police officer causes alleged victim of Civic punch to fall, hit head on ground

Footage appears to show a police officer pulling up the leg of a man, who had just been the alleged victim of a drunken punch in Civic, causing him to fall to the ground and hit his head on the pavement.

During a hearing that finished on Wednesday (24 January), the ACT Magistrates Court heard there was a question over whether it was the drunken alleged attacker, the now-27-year-old Jarrod Michael Dale, or this police officer’s actions that had caused the alleged injuries to the man’s head.

It was alleged the man and his friend were walking between nightclubs at East Row in the early hours of 29 April 2022 when there was an altercation between them and Mr Dale and his friend.

Mr Dale was allegedly captured on closed-circuit television footage (CCTV) punching the intoxicated man in the face, causing him to fall to the ground and hit his head.

But CCTV also captured a later scene after police arrived. The man had been sitting on the ground, but when he tried to stand up, a police officer appeared to grab his leg and pull it outwards, causing the man to fall and hit his head again.

The officer didn’t believe this maneuver would result in the man hitting his head, the prosecutor said.

Under cross-examination, another police officer who arrived at the scene said this officer’s actions could have been dangerous and she wouldn’t have done the same thing.

Mr Dale pleaded not guilty to charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and a back-up charge of common assault.

During closing submissions on Wednesday, Special Magistrate Gregor Urbas said he needed to consider the issue of causation as he needed to think about whether the police officer’s behaviour had “possibly caused or exacerbated the condition the complainant found himself in”.

The prosecutor argued the man had lost consciousness as he allegedly recalled being hit by Mr Dale, and then the next thing he remembered was his friend and police standing around him.

She said the CCTV showed him falling onto the ground, lifting his head up, then slumping down for about 40 seconds before getting up when the police arrived. She argued the initial fall was enough to cause a concussion.

Also, she argued the police officer’s actions could not have caused the bleeding to the man’s face as he had hit the back of his head on the ground, not the front when the officer made him fall.

Mr Dale’s defence lawyer argued the prosecution could not prove it was his client or police who caused the man’s concussion.

He argued it was difficult to determine if some injuries were due to his client’s alleged punch or were a form of aggravation when the man rolled to his side after he hit his head the second time.

“The conduct of this police officer is so unexpected and, in my submission, unreasonable … that my client can’t be held responsible [for these injuries],” the lawyer argued.

He also claimed his client was acting in self-defence as he was responding to alleged aggression and threats from the man and his friend.

The prosecutor disagreed that Mr Dale had acted in self-defence, partly as he had claimed his alleged victim had been aggressive, but he was unable to say how.

Also, she argued Mr Dale’s description of the punch as “a love tap” was clearly incorrect after looking at the other evidence, although the defence lawyer said this phrase was one of his client’s “colourful descriptions”.

Special Magistrate Urbas will hand down his decision on 20 February.

When approached for a response, a police spokesperson said: “ACT Policing does not comment on matters before the court.”