Shocking footage shows brutal baseball attack on police officer
<p dir="ltr">Body-cam footage of a baseball bat attack on two Victorian police officers has emerged in court, with one of the officers telling the court he would have died if not for his partner’s intervention.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The video shows an altercation between officers Rowan Baldham and William Ringin, a teenage boy, and Warrnambool man Steven Cleary in October last year.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Baldham and Ringin can be seen questioning the teen about why he wasn’t wearing a mask amid Victoria’s COVID-19 restrictions, when Cleary pulls over and emerges from his car with a baseball bat.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Cleary then yells at the boy to “pick up your bags and go” and tells police to “get your hands off him”.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The situation escalates when the teenager allegedly reaches for Ringin’s gun, while Cleary begins hitting Baldham with the bat several times before Ringin manages to wrestle it from Cleary’s hands.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The 21-year-old officer then hits Cleary with the bat before he is eventually capsicum sprayed and tasered by both officers.</p>
<p dir="ltr">After Cleary is cuffed and taken away in another police vehicle, the body-cam footage shows Baldham sitting on the curb with blood streaming down the side of his head.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Appearing in court on Wednesday, Cleary pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including affray, causing injury intentionally, and assaulting an emergency worker on duty, per <em><a href="https://7news.com.au/news/crime-melbourne/shock-moment-police-officer-is-bashed-with-a-baseball-bat-during-confrontation-over-masks-c-7587408" target="_blank" rel="noopener">7News</a></em>.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Both officers were also present, with an emotional Baldham breaking down when he saw the shocking footage again.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“Hearing the sound I made when I’m hit is the worst bit for me,” he said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“I didn’t know I was capable of making such a sound.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">He told the court he was “convinced” he would have died if his partner hadn’t stepped in to help.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“I am convinced that without his intervention – I would have been beaten to death,” he said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Cleary, who is due to be sentenced on Friday, suffered from a delusional mental illness which he wasn’t being treated for, according to his lawyer, and at the time of the incident believed in Covid conspiracy theories.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The two officers had planned to serve in the police for life, but are considering leaving following the incident.</p>
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<p dir="ltr"><em>Images: 7News</em></p>
