A methamphetamine dealer is suing South Police for $500,000, claiming he was left almost blind in one eye when allegedly assaulted while being arrested.
Convicted criminal Rhys Aaron Johns, 32, filed a claim with the South n District Court over the arrest at his Parafield Gardens home in Adelaide’s northern suburbs in January 2021.
Johns claimed he was assaulted 19 times, despite not resisting arrest or posing any threat to police, who were searching his house for drugs.
He said officers punched him in the face several times and used pepper spray on him while he lay on the ground.
Johns also claimed the the police did not tell him that he was under arrest or charged with any crime before the alleged assaults.
He said he suffered injuries to his eye, face, stomach and back when an officer allegedly hit him with a weapon and kneed him, leaving him unable to work.
His lawyer, Andrew Carpenter, said CCTV from John’s home showed that he surrendered as soon as police approached him.
‘He’s lost 96 per cent of vision in his left eye. He needed facial reconstructive surgery. He’s suffering PTSD because of what happened to him,’ Mr Carpenter told 7News.
‘You would never expect police officers to do that to do to you … it was just an absolute mugging, to be honest.’
South Police denied Johns’ allegations and said he was not entitled to any compensation.
The police went to Johns’ home after 18grams of methamphetamine, scales and bags were found in his car.
They found another 27grams of methamphetamine, valued at $30,000, when they searched Johns’ house, after which, he and his partner were charged with drug trafficking.
Mr Carpenter said charges of resisting arrest and assaulting police were later dropped.
Johns was sentenced to five and a half years in prison in 2023 after he and his partner pleaded guilty.
‘I think the footage speaks for itself, people would never expect anything like that from serving officers, they’d expect that from a bunch of drunk teenagers at a nightclub,’ Mr Carpenter said.
‘Now I would hate to think what would’ve happened if he didn’t have cameras there, but we’re seeing in his day and age people catching out police who assault them by way of CCTV or even mobile phones.’