Western Australia's Police Union has called for the immediate reinstatement of an officer acquitted of trying to "clothesline" two Aboriginal teenagers on a trail bike.
A District Court jury took less than two hours on Thursday to find Senior Constable Matthew Gerard Owen Pow, 39, not guilty of two counts of assault causing bodily harm and two charges of committing an act causing danger or bodily harm.
Sen Const Pow had been stood down from duty since the November 27, 2010 incident, in which he was accused of knocking the two brothers off their trail bike by setting a trap with a rope tied between a lamp post and a tree.
The incident happened in a park in the southern Perth suburb of Karawara, near where the boys and Sen Const Pow lived.
The jury heard Isaac and Luke Michaels, brothers aged 15 and 16 at the time, sustained superficial injuries when they came off their bike after riding around the suburb late at night.
The pair had accused Snr Const Pow of lying in wait for them and pulling the rope taut as they rode past.
They recognised the officer because he lived nearby, and they had been in trouble with the police before.
However, while Snr Const Pow admitted to being in the park and approaching the boys after the accident to ask whose bike it was, he denied any trap had been set.
He said he had gone to investigate as an off-duty officer as he had heard the bike late at night and the boys had fallen off it about 50 metres from his house.
Defence lawyer Karen Vernon told the jury no rope had ever been found, and there was no evidence to link her client to any trap.
She said the boys and their family were unreliable witnesses and suggested they had accused Snr Const Pow of trying to "clothesline" them because he had accused Luke of trying to break into his house.
Outside the court, WA Police Union president Russell Armstrong said the charges were a "disgrace".
"This was a tragedy, it shouldn't have happened," he said.
"Four counts against this officer - something that we said quite some time ago that they wouldn't win - they continued on, they put this officer through hell and now he's been vindicated.
"Matthew Pow should be reinstated forthwith - but we'll wait for the commissioner."
Mr Armstrong said it was "disturbing" that people who made false allegations against police were not punished.
"It's about time these people were charged and dealt with by the courts," he said.
He said the case had been "a waste of taxpayers' money" and "an absolute disgrace".
Sen Const Pow said he was happy with the decision and had been vindicated by the jury.
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