Officer who filmed Don Dale gassing says it was last straw

The images of teenagers being tear-gassed at a youth detention centre in Darwin have been seen around Australia but the man behind the camera that day has remained silent until now.

Senior youth justice officer Ian Johns has spoken out for the first time about the incident in August 2014 and the impact on his life.

“I don’t believe tear gas should have been used,” he said.

“I still can’t understand why, because we had the Tactical Response Group there from the big prison.

“I thought they might have smashed the door and gone in.”

In an exclusive interview with the ABC, he said he wished he had pushed harder to get permission to try to de-escalate the situation.

“I could have tried, and there was a couple of other officers that could have tried. We weren’t given the opportunity,” Mr Johns said.

He knew six boys had been in isolation for days after escaping from the Don Dale detention centre.

One of those boys was Dylan Voller, whose image of being strapped to a chair and hooded triggered a royal commission.

That afternoon Mr Voller had told him they had just been threatened with another 72 hours.

“All of us worry about kids being isolated in a place like that, for a long period of time, we all think it’s ridiculous,” Mr Johns said.

“But that was upper management’s decision.”

It was another practice he had opposed.

For 12 years, Mr Johns has worked at Don Dale, building rapport and trust with the detainees.

Being asked to film the tear-gassing was the last straw.

Mr Johns was ordered onto weeks of stress leave by his doctor, feeling bypassed and that his arguments for verbal de-escalation were being ignored.

VIDEO + MORE: Don Dale officer behind camera says tear-gassing should not have happened – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)