Two police officers are in hospital and a third has been treated by paramedics after a watch house assault north of Brisbane involving a syringe.
9News understands a police officer at Redcliffe Police Station was grabbed around the neck at the station watch house by a man who had been arrested and remanded yesterday.
The officer was unable to breathe to the point they almost lost consciousness before allegedly being pricked in the neck with a syringe.
Police sources have told 9News a second officer then came to help, only to also be allegedly pricked twice by the syringe as well.
The first injured officer was then allegedly pricked a second time in the wrist.
Both officers were taken to Redcliffe Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The incident comes after 9News revealed dangerous overcrowding of Queensland watch houses due to corrections prisoners being held.
As 9News revealed earlier this week, the majority of those in Queensland’s major watch houses are “corrections prisoners” – meaning they have been refused bail or have not yet returned to jail after a court date.
It’s understood the accused in this case is also a corrections prisoner.
The police union says he should have been on his way to a Queensland Corrective Services facility.
“He should not have been in a watch house,” Queensland Police Union president Shane Prior said.
“The fact that our members were assaulted with a syringe is not only a disgusting act of violence but also puts our members at significant risk of disease.”
The prisoner is believed to have been in the watch house for less than 24 hours.
There are not believed to be capacity issues at Redcliffe watch house.
A third officer became involved in the scuffle but wasn’t physically injured.
A 27-year-old man was not physically injured and remains in police custody.
9News has approached Queensland Corrective Services for comment.
