A Protective Services Officer has allegedly been bitten in an early morning attack outside Flinders Street Station.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Police have charged three people with assault over the incident, which allegedly occurred outside the station just after 1.30am on Sunday.
Three PSOs were involved in the incident.
Two of the officers were taken to hospital with injuries; one suffering a leg injury and another with a bite injury. The third was treated for facial injuries at the scene.
Ambulance Victoria spokesman John Mullen said a man in his 40s was taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital with leg injuries.
He was released from hospital on Sunday afternoon.
Police spokeswoman Natalie Webster said a 19-year-old Blackburn man, 20-year-old Mooroolbark man and 18-year-old Blackburn woman had all been charged with assault PSO and resist PSO.
All three were bailed to appear at Melbourne Magistrates Court on January 22 next year.
About 1300 PSOs patrol Victorian train stations and major public buildings.
In 2014, the Victorian government introduced harsher penalties for anyone who attacks PSOs or any other frontline emergency workers.
Those found guilty of assaulting or resisting a PSO face a potential jail sentence of six months for each offence, double the three-month jail-time that can be imposed for common assault.
Then Attorney-General Robert Clark said at the time that the measures were in response to an increase in alcohol and drug-fuelled attacks on frontline workers.
"Everyone deserves the right to be as safe as possible when they go to work, especially those who willingly face very dangerous situations such as those involving drug and alcohol-fuelled violence," he said at the time.
