A police officer caught on film beating a naked teenage boy with a baton in Byron Bay should be considered for an assault charge, the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission has found.
The independent commission, which investigates police misconduct, released its findings into the January incident today after a series of public hearings in May.
It found that although there was no doubt the actions of the boy, referred to as AO, warranted police intervention the commission found the officer's actions — known as Officer E in the report — "represented a use of grossly excessive force for which there was no justification."
"AO was naked in a public place and acting in a fashion that could only be described as highly irrational," the commission's report said.
"(But) no reasonable person in the same position as Officer E would believe that such force was proportionate to AO's actions."
As part of the investigation mobile phone footage captured by a witness was shown to a public hearing.
It runs for almost three minutes and shows four officers restraining the teenager with the 36-year-old senior constable beating the boy 18 times with his baton.
The events unfolded in a lane in the town centre of Byron Bay in January while the boy was on a family holiday.
Police had been called to the scene by a night manager at nearby hostel.
The night manager told the commission during the hearings in May that he witnessed the boy "acting in a strange manner" but "he was not acting aggressively".
The manager said he "was clearly under the influence of either alcohol or drugs" and then removed all his clothes.
The commission, which was looking into whether the officers used excessive force while trying to take the drunk 16-year-old into custody, concluded Officer E had committed "serious misconduct warranting serious consequences."
The commission recommended the NSW Department of Public Prosecutions consider a charge of assault.
The other officers involved have been cleared.
