An honest cop who allegedly leaked footage showing police brutality against a surfer has been criminally charged.
Sergeant Rick Flori, a 25-year veteran of Australia’s Queensland Police Force, was suspended earlier this year, after he was accused of leaking footage of officers brutally beating Noa Begic.
The 21-year-old Gold Coast chef was charged with ‘public nuisance’ and ‘obstructing police’. Horrific CCTV footage was leaked to the Courier Mail newspaper showing the police slamming him face-first into the floor at the police station, as well as beating him in the back of the van. They then wash away his blood with a bucket of water.
Sergeant Flori is being prosecuted for ‘misconduct in public office’. It’s an offence for an officer in Queensland to release information they’ve come across on the job, or to fail to perform a function of office, under Section 91A of the Queensland Criminal Code 1899.
He’s accused of obtaining the confidential CCTV footage ‘inappropriately’, and could face up to seven years in prison if found guilty.
The officers who attacked Mr Begic were investigated internally, but only two of them faced disciplinary action and none were charged with any offences.
Unbelievable.
