Sydney street personality Danny Lim says he is “not OK” and is still using walking sticks to get around after being thrown to the ground during a “discontinued” arrest by New South Wales police officers two weeks ago.
The violent incident is being invested by the police, with oversight from the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC), which has warned it would take over the probe if it had any concerns over how it was being run.
Speaking to Guardian Australia from his home where he is recovering after being released from St Vincent’s hospital, Lim said he had been “up and down like a yo-yo” after suffering a bleed on the brain and neck injuries.
“I wake up with a headache. I have to sit down all the time,” the 78-year-old said.
“I am not OK, but I want to be OK. The main thing is I am alive.”
He said he was struggling with coordination and was using walking sticks some of the time.
According to his lawyer, Chris Murphy, Lim has required ongoing medical care since his arrest on 22 November.
“Danny Lim needs two walking sticks to get around,” he said on social media on Monday night.
“He requires specialist medical help that will continue in two areas of damaged health.”
Lim had been walking through the Queen Victoria Building towards Town Hall train station wearing a sandwich board reading “SMILE CVN’T! WHY CVN’T?” when security called police.
Lim said officers had “smashed me on the concrete floor”, causing his cheek to bleed. Footage filmed by a passerby also showed the two officers handcuffing him while he was on the ground.
Another witness claimed Lim repeatedly asked officers to call an ambulance and informed them he had post-traumatic stress disorder before he was thrown to the ground and bloodied.
Mike Ashley said Lim was begging the officers to call an ambulance, minutes before he was thrown to the ground and handcuffed.
“He let them know very clearly that he had PTSD, and that he needed an ambulance,” Ashley said last month.
“He voiced that very clearly at the outset. He became increasingly agitated as they approached him.”
When Ashley tried to intervene and asked Lim if he should call an ambulance, the officers threatened to charge him, he said.
“The officer … said, ‘If you do that, we will charge you with hindering an arrest,’” he said.
The allegations were consistent with the version of events Lim outlined to Guardian Australia from hospital.
The premier, Dominic Perrottet, has called for “strongest action” to be taken if any wrongdoing is uncovered.
