Police Union President Inspector Sandro Camilleri today said that RIU police officers acted according to procedure and no excessive force was used during the arrest of a black Hungarian student at the Valletta bus terminus on Wednesday morning.

In an interview, Inspector Camilleri said that the officers acted on what they found after some people in the crowd claimed that Daboma Jack – the student who is reading for a Masters degree in Malta - instigated the argument.

This newsroom was given exclusive footage of the incident which was filmed with a camera which belongs to one of the RIU police officers. The officers involved in the controversial incident are members of the union Inspector Camilleri represents. The union was only set up recently after the government passed a law giving members of the disciplined forces a voice.

Inspector Camilleri said “the officers detained him in site using handcuffs; he was only handcuffed for 4 minutes 40 seconds after the RIU officers established that he was innocent and that the Hungarian student was only trying to sort out the queue of people who were lining up to get their tallinja card topped up.

“They also established that he was spat at and slapped by a woman. One must point out that the witnesses on site, along with the Hungarian student, did not give a clear description of the woman who slapped him and by the time the police managed to get a proper description of the woman, she had fled the scene.”

He said that the RIU police officers were despatched to the scene from the position they were in at the time – in Psaila Street Birkirkara – so it took a while for them to get to the Valletta bus terminus. The only information they had before they got to the scene is that there was an argument at the bus terminus.

He pointed out that the police cam personally belongs to one of the RIU police officers who was despatched to the scene. Police do not have cameras installed in their cars normally, he continued. “Can you imagine hadn’t this officer filmed the arrest?” Insp. Camilleri asked.

Inspector Camilleri reiterated that the police acted according to procedure and no excessive force was used.

The inspector said that the RIU officers were interrogated about the incident until 8.30pm that same day.

When asked by this newsroom whether he felt RIU officers generally lacked training, he replied in the affirmative.

Inspector Camilleri said that while some people who were at the scene hurled racial insults, others explained to the police that the student is innocent. He thanked the TVM journalist for intervening to give a clear picture to the police that Mr Jack was innocent.  This, he said, is when the police immediately removed Mr Jack’s handcuffs.

“Black people were congregating at the scene and tempers started to flare; one has to understand that the RIU officers were in danger at that point in time,” he said.

On a separate note, Inspector Camilleri referred to a case whereby a man admitted in court this week that he had lied about police officers having used excessive force during his arrest.

The mother of Etienne Caruana had alleged that her son was beaten by “thug” police officers at the back of a police van in Paceville on New Year’s Eve. But yesterday, Mr Caruana said that he had made up the story. Mr Caruana’s mother had written to the Police Commissioner about the incident.

“One cannot but not say that these officers went to hell and back as a result of the allegations made by the Caruana family and now they turn out to be false allegations,” he said. “To add insult to injury, Caruana was only given a suspended sentence,” the inspector said.