WARNING: DISTRESSING FOOTAGE

“It could happen to anyone.”

That’s the warning from a lawyer who viewed disturbing new CCTV footage and heard a horrific stories from alleged brutality victims at the hands of Victoria Police officers.

The chilling footage and new details have emerged as part of a joint investigation between the ABC and The Age.

Airing on 7.30 tonight, one CCTV clip from Geelong Police Station show’s 62-year-old Phil Dickson being repeatedly hit in the head before being thrown to the ground in January 2013.

Blood stains were left splattered on the floor and the disability pensioner was left hospitalised after the incident.

THIS FOOTAGE HAS BEEN OBTAINED AS PART OF A SPECIAL INVESTIGATION BY THE AGE AND ABC’S 7.30 — TONIGHT’S FULL EPISODE CAN BE VIEWED ON IVIEW

Having recently separated from his wife, cops found Mr Dickson sitting in his parked car outside a supermarket in regional Victoria with a blood alcohol reading of 0.27.

Disturbing footage shows the moment he was taken back to the police station and he can be seen throwing his belt on the ground.

This enrages senior constable Michael Cooke, who can be seen hitting him on the head and throwing him forcefully on the floor.

“I thought I must have tripped,” Mr Dickson told 7.30.

“I had a break in that knuckle. I had a torn ligament in my shoulder.”

In another case, a Victorian policeman was caught on CCTV assaulting a drunk disability pensioner at Geelong Police Station in 2013. #abc730 @Chris_Gillett_ @Ageinvestigates pic.twitter.com/NycwHqhfeq — abc730 (@abc730) January 21, 2019

Sergeant Cooke pleaded guilty in the Geelong Magistrates Court to assaulting Mr Dickson.

However, according to 7.30, he struck a plea deal with prosecutors to have his recklessly causing injury charge reduced in return for a guilty plea with no conviction.

He was suspended with pay for around 12 months and returned to face an internal police disciplinary hearing in 2015.

He was put on a good behaviour order and remained a police officer until 2018, when he resigned.

In a statement, a Victoria Police spokeswoman told 7.30: “Make no mistake, this is not the manner in which we expect our officers to behave. We do not condone violence.

“That is why the incident was thoroughly investigated by Professional Standards Command and the officer was charged with the criminal offence of recklessly cause injury. All available information and evidence was heard in an open court.

“There is no doubt the CCTV footage was confronting and was considered by the hearing officer, however Victoria Police must take into account a range of factors such as the court verdict, character references and relevant employment law when making a decision about an officer’s ongoing employment.

“The community should be assured that Victoria Police is committed to continually improving our internal processes for investigating complaints against its officers.”

The shocking case was one of three featured on 7.30 as part of a special investigation with The Age.

The Age revealed today how a baby-faced Aboriginal 18-year-old was wrongly arrested by police and allegedly assaulted in April 2016.

Sport-loving Tommy Lovett was riding a scooter to his grandmother’s home when he was arrested.

Earlier, cops had issued a description over the radio for a 40-year-old Aboriginal man with a goatee and red hat, who was wanted for stealing a vehicle and ramming it into a police car.

The Tommy rode past on his scooter.

His mother Doreen — a local leader who works within the justice system — said what happened next shook her son to the core.

She told 7.30 he used to be an outgoing, happy teenager, but he is now too traumatised to speak about the incident.

Police statements allege Tommy was violent and spat at police as he was handcuffed.

His distressed mother later arrived at the police station.

“I called for the Senior Sergeant to come out, and I said, ‘You have my son in custody’. said Doreen, recalling the incident. “And he says, ‘no, we didn’t bring him into the police station, he’s at the hospital.’

“I thought, ‘What the heck?’ He was horrified. He’s never been slapped up like that. He had no human rights.”

Documents obtained by The Age reportedly support Mr Lovett’s claim that he was hurled into a fence, assaulted while handcuffed and capsicum sprayed — leaving his body bruised, grazed and bleeding.

Victoria Police vehemently denied the claims and an internal investigation found nothing wrong with Mr Lovett’s arrest.

However, a human rights lawyer who spoke to 7.30 said the cases — including one where a Melbourne doctor claims police threw her to the ground and punched her in the head — outlined in the investigation are alarming.

“These cases keep going on,” he said. “There’s clearly cultural systemic issues at work. The only way that will stop is when there’s proper, independent oversight of police. It keeps happening time and time again and it can happen to anyone.”