One of two women shown being grabbed by a Queensland Police officer in the town of Murgon has spoken to NITV News about the incident.
The video, which was posted on Facebook last week, has been viewed over 700,000 times at the time of writing, gaining national attention within 24 hours of being posted.
Nicole Chapman is one of the two Indigenous females seen in the video grabbed by the police officer.
Ms Chapman told NITV News her whole family is hurting after the incident.
“This has affected my family,” she said.
Ms Chapman claims she was not told the police officer who grabbed her was being investigated. Instead, she heard about the investigation on the news.
“Nobody has come and told me anything, no one has been to see me, nothing. No one has even took a statement from me. No one asked what’s my side of the story,” she said
Ms Chapman did say the other two police officers, who also appear in the video, came to her the next day to check on her.
‘I cried out for help’
The mother of eight says she’s been living in Murgon for the last decade.
She claims there’s been some tension within Murgon between been two groups of teenagers, one of which includes her own children.
“It escalated to where they were writing things and waiting at the park and bullying them (her kids),” she explained.
Ms Chapman said she has tried to get the police involved on many occasions, but claims help was not forthcoming.
“Eight months were going past, I ran to police, I ran to CTC youth, I ran to child safety, I cried out for help and nobody would help me,” she said.
She said on the day the video was taken, the police had finally agreed to attend a mediation meeting with both groups of teenagers.
Ms Chapman alleges that the two groups got into a fight before the mediation could take place. The police intervened and arrested her 15-year-old son for fighting.
NITV News has been told, by Ms Chapman, her son has been fined with public nuisance.
“I was at home sitting on the front veranda, they (the police) were locking my 15-year-old son up, and another parent had come across and said you can’t take him,” she said.
What happened next
That’s when Ms Chapman claims she ran down to the police station to sort out the situation.
She alleges she was talking to a liaison officer, who also appears in the video but is not the officer under investigation.
Ms Chapman claims it was at this time that the second police officer, the one who is now under investigation, came over and started to argue with the group.
“He starts going off at us. I tell him mediation is going on. He argued with me and said there is no mediation and I said there is, I asked him to ring the police station,” she said.
Ms Chapman alleges the officer told the group to leave the Murgon Police Station and take their dispute over to Cherbourg Police Station, seven kilometres away.
“Because I was the mother to all those children. He wouldn’t listen, so I was raising my voice,” she said.
She then claims the police officer grabbed her and “pulled me with force”.
Ms Chapman was seen in an online video being grabbed by a Queensland police officer. Source: Supplied, Facebook
Ms Chapman said the young girl who was grabbed after her by the police officer is her niece.
She said her niece saw keys on the ground during the incident and picked them up thinking they were her aunt’s. However, it turned out to be the police officer’s keys.
“At that time when she had his keys, my children were screaming out for me. He realized it was all my children and he turned around and ran at that young girl,” she said.
The caption from the original video post supports Ms Chapman's version of events.
“The officer dropped his keys and the girl picked them up and stood there holding her hand out for him to grab them, but [he] chose to throw himself at her instead, hence why she ran,” the caption explained.
Ms Chapman said her niece was still upset about what happened.
“She was more shocked than anything else, getting hit in the head and stuff… She doesn’t want to leave my side,” she added.
“Everybody’s looked at the video and all these judgement things have gone on."
Queensland Police Media told NITV News in a statement that “appropriate support and medical attention” had been provided at the time of the incident.
Nicole is seen here before the police officer grabbed her. Source: Facebook
Last week when the video first appeared online, Queensland Police offered this statement.
“Police are aware of the incident and the matter has been referred to the Ethical Standards Command. As the matter is now under investigation it would inappropriate to comment further at this time.”
Ms Chapman claims she was fined for public nuisance and obstruction after the incident by the officer shown grabbing her.
“They charged me after, after it all died down. They came down (to my house) after we walked away,” she said.
“He handed me the slip, same officer, he came up to my front stairs and said he just came off sick leave and he has no knowledge of what was going on.”
Queensland police said they will continue to work with the Murgon community.
“The QPS continues to work with the broader community in ensuring community safety and public order is maintained to the highest standards and this approach is applied to the Murgon community.”
For now, Ms Chapman awaits her court date for her two charges.
