Mr Dimopoulos was sleeping in an apartment above Hares and Hyenas, an iconic Fitzroy bookshop owned by his friends, when he was woken by the sound of unfamiliar voices. Not realising the “intruders” were police, and fearing he was about to be subject to a gay bashing or home invasion, he attempted to flee to the street outside. As he tried to open the bookshop front door, a struggling Mr Dimopoulos was tackled by police, taken to the footpath and handcuffed. During his arrest, his shoulder was ripped clean from its socket and several bones in his arm were shattered. The LGBTI event promoter, who still endures pain and discomfort, is now suing police. “I saw very close up to my head, someone’s foot, a pair of boots, and the tip of a rifle. And that’s again another point where I just started going: ‘This is it,’ you know? This is the end. This is definitely the point where they’re going to shoot me',” he said. Melbourne's iconic LGBTI bookshop, Hares & Hyenas in Fitzroy Credit:Scott McNaughton

“In all these moments of shock - of preparing to be killed or thrown in the boot of a car - there was also at that point knowing that my arm was completely ripped off because it was flipped behind. It’s hard to explain it. It was like the weight of my arm was pressing against my back really in a place that shouldn’t be. “At that point I already knew that my arm is being ripped off its socket.” Mr Dimopoulos' surgeon, Dr Sushil Pant, said it was one of the worst shoulder fractures he had ever encountered, describing it as a “10 out of 10”. A medical scan showing Nik Dimopoulos' injuries. Police stormed the apartment attached to the bookshop on Johnston Street in May while searching for what residents were told was an "armed member of a 'Lebanese' gang".

Victoria Police’s Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT) had forced entry into the bookshop, mistakenly believing that an armed offender was sheltering inside. Loading But Mr Dimopoulos insists the officers did not identify themselves as police - a claim that is now the subject of an investigation by Victoria’s Independent Broadbased Anti-Corruption Commission. Despite the fact that IBAC’s investigation is ongoing, The Age has been told that Victoria Police - which immediately apologised after the incident - has been helping to pay for Mr Dimopoulos’ medical expenses. The move is unusual, and highlights the sensitivity within senior ranks of the force, which has spent years trying to make amends with the LGBTI community after a history of homophobic raids and arrests.

Loading But it also places force command at apparent odds with its own police union, whose boss, Wayne Gatt, insisted after the raid that he was “proud” of the officers involved “because they did everything required of them, because they announced themselves as police, because they searched the building properly, because they called on the suspect multiple times when engaging that person before making the arrest”. IBAC remains tight-lipped about when its findings will be handed down. However, policing sources believe that while Mr Dimopoulos should never have endured the horrific injury, the officers were acting in good faith and in the belief he may have been an armed offender. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video As for Mr Dimopoulos, he is still searching for answers about his brutal experience and wants Premier Daniel Andrews to strengthen the oversight system to ensure police are properly held to account.

“I want … accountability for this and for the public to know very bluntly what happened here and why they made this mistake,” he said. “I don’t know enough about what laws apply to (police). But if this experience has anything to do with it, it, it makes absolutely no sense.”