THE lawyer for a man accused of king-hitting a police officer so hard he lost consciousness has asked for CCTV footage of the incident to see if his client was "provoked".

Ashley Baira, 33, allegedly punched a 29-year-old male constable in the head, knocking him to the ground while police were speaking to a group of people about drinking alcohol in public at the intersection of Spence and Lake streets, Cairns, about 7.20pm on Tuesday.
Baira did not enter a plea to the charge when he appeared in the Cairns Magistrates Court yesterday morning and applied for bail, which was refused.
Baira's lawyer Steve Carter made the request for closed-circuit footage of the incident to be provided and said his client had also been harmed during the incident.
"He was pushed away with a hand on the throat," Mr Carter said in court.
"My client admits he was not even aware it was a police officer."
Mr Carter said Baira reacted after he was taken to the ground.
He said his client had handcuffs put on him so tight he needed hospital treatment and still had swollen wrists when he appeared in the dock.
Magistrate Trevor Black refused Baira bail, saying he was an unacceptable risk of reoffending.
However, he agreed the matter may be looked at again after his lawyer viewed the CCTV footage.
The injured officer was transported to Cairns Base Hospital for treatment after the alleged assault, but was released later that night and returned to work yesterday.
After the court hearing yesterday, Cairns police Sen-Constable Russell Parker said the matter was under investigation.
"All alleged police assaults will definitely be investigated and offenders will be put before the courts because of the obvious danger (to the officers)," he said.
"This was an urban area so it's full of hard surfaces and concrete paths, which are bad places to fall on."

 

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