Man injured in police raid of LGBTQI bookshop gets secret payout

Key points

• Event promoter Nik Dimopoulos has received a confidential settlement from the state government after  sustaining shocking injuries during a bungled police raid of an LGBTQI bookshop in 2019.
• The injuries he sustained would cost him more than $1.1 million in past and future earnings, according to court documents. He also claimed an additional $1.8 million in special damages.
• The surgeon who operated on Dimopoulos described his injury as one of the worst shoulder fractures he had ever seen.
• Victoria’s Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission’s found the use of force by police was proportionate, although the man’s human rights were infringed.
• The man’s claim was settled confidentially before it went to court.

A man who sustained shocking injuries during a bungled police raid of an LGBTQI bookshop has received a confidential settlement, despite Victoria’s anti-corruption taskforce clearing officers of using excessive force.

Event promoter Nik Dimopoulos was mistakenly arrested by police in May 2019, during a traumatic ordeal at the Hares & Hyenas bookstore in Fitzroy that resulted in his shoulder being “ripped from its socket”.

Nik Dimopoulos has reached a settlement with Victoria Police over the incident at Hares and Hyenas bookstore in 2019.Credit:Eddie Jim

He was sleeping in an apartment above the bookshop when members of the force’s Critical Incident Response Team stormed the building searching for a suspect involved in a carjacking and home invasion.

In June 2020, Dimopoulos launched civil action against the state government accusing the police officers involved in the incident of false imprisonment, assault and battery, and failing to “exercise reasonable care”.

According to court documents, Dimopoulos will lose more than $1.1 million in past and future earnings as a result of his injuries, while also claiming an additional $1.8 million in special damages.

The case was due to proceed to a Supreme Court trial next month, but the matter was recently resolved when a financial offer was agreed to by Dimopoulos and his lawyers.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman confirmed the protracted legal case had been finalised.

“Victoria Police has reached a confidential settlement with a person following an incident in Fitzroy on 11 May, 2019. The confidentiality provisions in the settlement terms are binding on all parties involved,” the police spokeswoman said.

Dimopoulos’ lawyer, Jeremy King from Robinson Gill Lawyers, refused to comment when contacted by The Age.

In April 2020, the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission’s released the findings of its investigation of the incident, which found the use of force was proportionate, although Dimopoulos’ human rights had been infringed.

IBAC commissioner Robert Redlich said officers of the elite Critical Incident Response Team had “reasonable grounds” at the time to raid the property, despite it ultimately being the wrong location.

“The police involved reasonably believed such force was necessary to arrest a person who was struggling with police,” Redlich said in April 2020.

Dimopoulos blasted the findings of the IBAC report, and has long maintained that police did not identify themselves when they entered the building while he was sleeping. He said he fled because he feared he would be the victim of a gay bashing or home invasion.

The raid sparked deep unease and anger in the LGBTQI community.

In an apparent bid to reassure the public, Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius issued a public apology on behalf of the force almost immediately after the incident.

The Fitzroy bookshop, Hares & Hyenas, below the apartment where Nik Dimopoulos was sleeping when police stormed in.Credit:Scott McNaughton

“It’s very clear to us that police stuffed this one up,” Cornelius said at a press conference.

Victoria Police also took the highly unusual step of paying for Dimopoulos’ medical expenses.

The decision to apologise ahead of a formal investigation into the incident caused significant ructions between rank-and-file officers and Victoria Police command.

Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt took a thinly veiled swipe at Cornelius following the IBAC report that cleared officers involved in the botched raid.

Gatt said the IBAC’s findings were “an important outcome for our members involved and some sober reading for those who judged them prematurely, who apologised on their behalf prematurely, for those opportunists who chose to drive an agenda because it was convenient.”

The rare mea culpa from Cornelius also came amid a string of other controversial use-of-force incidents and scandals – many involving the Critical Incident Response Unit – where police have stridently defended their conduct or refused to comment ahead of the completion of internal or independent investigations.

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