protest against police brutality in US
Author David Lee (C) speaks during a protest against what demonstrators call police brutality in McKinney, Texas June 8, 2015. Hundreds marched through the Dallas-area city of McKinney on Monday calling for the firing of police officer Eric Casebolt, seen in a video throwing a bikini-clad teenage girl to the ground and pointing his pistol at other youths at a pool party disturbance. Reuters/Mike Stone

Ray Currier, a 50-year-old youth worker, alleged he had been assaulted by police.

The Drewvale worker said police officers had sprayed capsicum spray on his genitals and in his eyes, adding the officers laughed his watch-house cell while he tried washing it off. The incident took place in January when Currier was celebrating Australia Day with his colleagues from the Brisbane Youth Detention Centre.

“I knew I was in a positional asphyxia, which is quite dangerous - we're taught in my role in youth detention - I could feel my panic beginning to rise, which is [also] dangerous in that situation,” the ABC quoted Currier, who talked about his condition.

CCTV footage showed Currier being punched in the head and knocked unconscious. Five officers restrained him while the incident took place. "It's not like we're a bunch of teenagers -- we left that place of our own volition - the footage clearly shows that he told us to move away and that's why we're all moving away."

Currier has worked in youth detention centres for almost 20 years. He has also been a Justice of the Peace for a decade.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the matter could be investigated. "If that has happened I am very concerned about it and I'm more than happy to have discussions with my director-general about making sure that matter is investigated," Sky News reported.

This is the third footage involving Gold Coast police in the last two years. According to the Queensland Council of Civil Liberties President Terry O'Gorman, there is a systematic problem on the Gold Coast. Ian Levers from the Queensland Police Union, however, believes there should be support for officers on the front line.

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