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Four WA police attacked following Matt Butcher verdict  
By Warwick Stanley
Perth Now AAP
March 15, 2009		  

FOUR police have been injured in two separate attacks days after PM Kevin Rudd expressed shock at a jury finding three men not guilty of assaulting police.

After Perth talkback radio "went into meltdown'' and internet websites posted thousands of comments expressing outrage at the jury verdict, three police officers were injured when they went to break up a brawl outside a city bar at midnight on Friday.

Less than 24 hours later, a 30-year-old constable was injured by a flying bottle when he answered complaints about a wild street party in Cannington last night involving more than 150 people.

Police said all four officers required hospital treatment, with Friday's injured since discharged.

Four people have been charged over the Friday night attack, in which one man allegedly injured an officer when he jumped on his back as he attempted to arrest his son.

A woman involved in the melee is alleged to have punched an officer several times in the head.

The victim of the latest attack, Constable Tristan Taylor, suffered a back injury when he was struck by a full bottle of spirits. He remains in a stable condition in Royal Perth Hospital.

Nobody has yet been charged with his assault, although two people face disorderly conduct charges.

The WA Government has said it will introduce mandatory sentencing for people who assault police following Thursday's jury verdict, which cleared three men of any involvement in a pub brawl.

Perth policeman Matthew Butcher was left paralysed, with brain damage and sight impairment after he was knocked unconscious by a headbutt during a fracas outside the Joondalup Old Bailey Tavern in February last year.

The District Court jury found Robert McLeod, 56, and his sons Barry McLeod, 29 and Scott McLeod, 35, not guilty of assaulting Constable Butcher.

Barry McLeod was alleged to have endangered the life of Constable Butcher by felling him with what prosecutors described as a ``flying headbutt''.

In the only conviction against the men, Scott McLeod was fined $4000 for making threats to kill a civilian who recorded the incident on his mobile phone.

Family, friends and colleagues of Const Butcher say they are in disbelief over the verdicts, while talkback radio stations reported their switchboards ``went into meltdown'' over the issue.

Mr Rudd said on Friday he had been shocked after arriving in Perth to see a newspaper report of the attack and the jury's decision.

He said it was a ``wake-up call'' for communities across the country to support their police forces.

Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan, who says the jury's decision will ``undoubtedly'' affect police morale and has already led to resignations, is yet to comment on the latest attacks.

WA Police Union president Mike Dean said today it was too early to link the attacks to last Thursday's jury verdict.

``We have four assaults a day - I can't judge these individual incidents but it seems to me they're just a couple that have got publicity,'' he said.

``It seems to be that four's become acceptable. The trend's been up for years.

``Unfortunately some very public opinions have been dictated by what I call the soft option group and it appears to me to be a total degeneration of the law and order structure.

``To be frank, I just see the naivety of our politicians, the lack of caring about this issue by anyone ...

``By next week everyone's forgotten about it.''

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