LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: The use of Tasers by police has come under intense scrutiny after a series of incidents across Australia. Tomorrow, two inquests into cases involving the use of Tasers will wind up. In Sydney the NSW coroner will release findings into the death of Brazilian student Roberto Laudisio Curti, and in Brisbane the coroner will report on the case of Antonio Galeano, who died shortly after being repeatedly Tasered by police in North Queensland. Meanwhile yet another case has come to light. 7.30 has obtained footage of a 14-year-old boy being Tasered by police. Tracy Bowden reports.

KEVIN HENSHAW, KEMPSEY ABORIGINAL LEGAL SERVICE: His treatment is akin to torture.

POLICE OFFICER: Lay on the grounds, put your hands behind your back!

KEVIN HENSHAW: No one deserves to be treated like that.

TRACY BOWDEN, REPORTER: Solicitor Kevin Henshaw says this Taser-cam footage shows one of the worst cases of police brutality he's seen in his long career. The boy who is being Tasered is 14-years-old.

KEVIN HENSHAW: ...watching the child's crying and screams, and the fact that the police weren't really concerned. That was the most distressing part of this incident.

TRACY BOWDEN: It was the end of another classic summer's day at Crescent Head, an idyllic holiday spot tucked away on the NSW midnorth coast. But this region has big social problems, fueled by the toxic mix of youth, alcohol and drugs amongst a high Indigenous population. It's the world this boy grew up in.

Those who know him tell 7.30 this young man was up against it from the start. He was destined to end up in trouble. His mother died when he was just seven-years-old, and since then he's been raised by a variety of relatives with little stability and no strong role models. As one person put it, "This boy grew up in a dysfunctional community, awash with alcohol."

BOY'S GRANDMOTHER: Yeah, he very, very angry with society, angry with me, myself, his dad, the police force. But I know deep down in his heart is a good kid; there's a great warrior just waiting to come out.

TRACY BOWDEN: The boy's grandmother who can't be identified because of her grandson's age, lives at an Aboriginal mission inland from Kempsey. She wishes he'd spent more time here.

(To boy's grandmother) Why do you think he started getting in trouble?

BOY'S GRANDMOTHER: Peer pressure, following the crowd.

JANN EASON, PRINCIPAL, MACLEAY VOCATIONAL COLLEGE KEMPSEY: Sometimes he would stay in a different household every night. It wouldn't surprise me if he hasn't slept under the bridge, which is where some homeless young people in Kempsey stay. For a couple of years there our school was the only place where he could stabilise, but then of course you get the weekends and you get the holidays when all of that comes undone again.

TRACY BOWDEN: That day, the boy was on day release from a rehab clinic. Early evening he was in this street in Crescent Head with a couple of mates. They'd been drinking and confronted a man at a party in one of the houses. They then tried to fight other partygoers, and the police were called.

The boys fled and police caught up with them near the beach. Two of them were detained but the 14-year-old ran into the caravan park.

KEVIN HENSHAW: The young person was hiding under a caravan. The police approached him and told him to get out from under the caravan. The second words the police uttered were threats to capsicum spray him.

TRACY BOWDEN: Police went ahead and sprayed him with capsicum or OC spray, then dragged him out from under the van. According to Senior Constable Matthew Philips:

MATTHEW PHILIPS, SENIOR CONSTABLE (voiceover): Due to the violent nature of the young person, I decided to deploy my Taser as the situation was deteriorating, and I felt this was the most appropriate tactical option.

BOY: Don't Taser me, please! Don't Taser me please!

POLICE OFFICER: Are you going to comply?

BOY: Nah, I'm not gonna play.

KEVIN HENSHAW: We had a young person who was struggling with the police, struggling with big police. He didn't pose a physical threat to them, and in fact on the second time he was Tasered he was on his knees. Crouching.

BOY: I can't see, I can't see, Matt.

POLICE OFFICER: You're all right.

BOY: I'm gonna die, Matt!

POLICE OFFICER: No, you're not.

BOY: Matt, please help me, please, Matt, please help me, Matt! I'm gonna die!

TRACY BOWDEN: The footage documents the next 15 minutes as the youth struggles to breathe and begs for help.

BOY: Matt, I wanna be with my mum, Matt, I wall be with my mum!

KEVIN HENSHAW: The thing that stuck greatest in my mind was the child crying out for his deceased mother. That shows how traumatised the child was.

POLICE OFFICER: You can breathe, don't be ridiculous. Get a bucket of water or something, maybe.

TRACY BOWDEN: By now the boy was handcuffed and not resisting, but police continued to threaten him with Tasering.

POLICE OFFICER: Keep up the language and I'll zap you again. Understood? So shut your mouth. If you f**king swear once, more, I'm going to f**king light you up again. Understand? You're not getting the message, are ya?

TRACY BOWDEN: The probes from the Taser were not removed from the boy's back for almost 30 minutes. He was then taken to Kempsey Police Station where he was checked by ambulance officers.

BOY: I'm burning! I'm burning! I'm burning!

TRACY BOWDEN: What do you think should have happened to the police who Tasered him?

BOY'S GRANDMOTHER: They should be answerable, answerable to why they done it - because they're already sprayed him, and then they Tasered him. They could have held him down and handcuffed him the way they do it on television.

KEVIN HENSHAW: It has made an angry young boy even angrier, and he's a child who comes from a background where he's been exposed to violence, and in many respects it's building a hatred for the police, towards the police.

TRACY BOWDEN: Kevin Henshaw complained to the NSW Ombudsman about the treatment of his young client. The case was one of those looked at in the report into how Tasers are used by the state's police.

Under a heading, Deficient Complaint Investigations by the NSW Police Force, it says:

OMBUDSMAN'S REPORT (voiceover): We were not satisfied that police officers had reasonable grounds for multiple use of a Taser on a juvenile during his arrest, and disagreed with the finding that the actions of police complied with the Taser standard operating procedures.

KEVIN HENSHAW: Police thought the young person's treatment was within the guidelines. And this is one of my concerns. The police investigating the police, and the police taking no action for obvious abuses of police powers and police instructions.

TRACY BOWDEN: NSW police would not agree to an interview about the incident but provided 7.30 with a statement which says:

POLICE STATEMENT (voiceover): Police were forced to use a Taser after trying unsuccessfully to physically restrain and arrest the offender.

BOY: I'm only 14-years-old, so... and I'm f**king standing here tasered and everything!

TRACY BOWDEN: The young boy, who's now in juvenile detention in Grafton, is planning to take civil action against the state of NSW for unlawful arrest and assault.

KEVIN HENHAW: The need to Taser twice and spray him twice... it's hard to see how that could have been warranted.

BOY: Mummy!

POLICE OFFICER: You can breathe.

BOY: I can't but, having problems breathing.

POLICE OFFICER: You're doing a pretty good job screaming.

BOY: (cries)

LEIGH SALES: Tracy Bowden reporting.