A cop walks into a bar, greets a seated female patron, is shoved so hard he loses his balance and is crudely told to get lost. But Senior Constable Mark Follington now admits the story he wrote after violently arresting Anya Bradford in 2019 was very different to what occurred. At the time of writing this narrative, I did it to the best of my knowledge without having viewed the (CCTV) footage, he told a Sydney court on Tuesday.
The court has heard Ms Bradford was metres away from Follington when she got up and walked out of a gaming room in Liverpools Golden Fleece Hotel. Asked for her name, she replied f*** off and told police she didnt have ID and that she had a meeting to get to. CCTV footage shows Follington grabbed her arm to prevent her leaving the pub, leading to a scuffle in which the Crown alleges the officer shoved the womans head into an ATM.
Ms Bradford kicked Follington, ran off and was pursued into the foyer of another building, where he pulled her out of a lift, another officer used pepper spray and the woman was handcuffed.
Asked what had brought Ms Bradford to his attention, Follington said her attitude in the hotel was akin to those who have a warrant out for their arrest. When I was in the room, you could see I was focusing within the room, she had no eye contact with myself, he told the Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday. People normally come up and say hello, she was keeping her eyes down. To me, that starts to send a signal to me that this person is trying to hide from me.