Police charge man after Princes Street Bridge incident

Detectives from the Armed Crime Squad have this afternoon charged a man following an incident on the Princes Street Bridge in the CBD on Friday night (9 February).

A 20-year-old Pakenham man was charged with two counts of common law assault, two counts of assault protective services officer, two counts of threaten to assault protective services officer and reckless conduct endangering person.

The man had a bedside hearing and was remanded to appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on 7 May.

The charges follow an incident where the 20-year-old Pakenham man was shot by a protective services officer (PSO) after allegedly threatening another PSO.

Police and PSOs were responding to an unrelated incident on the Princes Street Bridge just after 5.30pm on Friday, 9 February.

It will be alleged that a man armed with broken glass confronted several PSOs, making a verbal threat towards one.

Two PSOs deployed OC spray, which didn’t appear to have any affect.

One PSO then discharged his firearm, with the man being struck once.

He was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries, where he remained under police guard.

Police do not believe the incident was terror related.

The incident was investigated by detectives from the Armed Crime Squad with oversight from Professional Standards Command, which is standard protocol when a firearm is discharged.

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