Christmas Caroling Becomes Unruly, Causing Police to Use Stun Gun

A community Christmas show and caroling event at Five Dock in Sydney, Australia’s inner-west area turned from a peaceful holiday event to a dangerous and unruly incident.

Nearly 4000 people gathered at Halliday Park on McGrath Street for the event on Monday. Police officers patrolling the crowd broke up many arguments and minor scuffles.

At one point a police sergeant was dealing with two young men who were being abusive towards other members of the community in attendance. One of the young men punched the police sergeant, resulting in a gash above the officer’s eye.

At this point the surrounding crowd became unruly and, as the police sergeant described it, “volatile.” The police sergeant shot his stun gun at his assailant, an 18 year old young man, and was able to subdue him.

The young man was arrested and taken to the Campsie police station. He was charged with assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest, and affray. He made bail and is scheduled to appear in the Burwood Local Court on January 14.

Thanks to the quick use of his stun gun, the police sergeant suffered no further injury other than the gash above his eye. He received treatment for the gash from paramedics on the scene. Knowing how quickly things can get out of hand, the police officer was wise to subdue the volatile young man as quickly as possible. By subduing the young man, the momentum was taken out of the unruly crowd. This prevented an escalation of violence in the agitated crowd, eliminated the need for more drastic actions.