Benalla resident Richard Maxwell said his 16-year-old daughter was stopped and handcuffed by police while she was walking home from school on Monday, October 31.
She was later released at the same spot on the bridge in Bridge St West.
At the time, police were looking for a teenage girl who had allegedly robbed a supermarket at knifepoint.
A police spokesperson said police “conducted a search of the immediate area and located a female nearby matching the description of the suspect shortly after the incident”.
“Officers approached the female with weapons drawn as it was believed the female may have still been in possession of the weapon,” police said.
“The female was released when it was established that she was not involved in the incident.”
Mr Maxwell said he was alerted to his daughter — who has special needs — being taken in handcuffs by a family friend who was on a bus going past at the time, and said his daughter was shaken up by the incident.
Kerryn Gribble said she saw the girl crying and in handcuffs behind her back and she was surrounded by several police as she drove past.
“It’s very concerning because she has disabilities,” Ms Gribble said.
She called Mr Maxwell from the bus and he immediately went to the area where his daughter had been released from handcuffs by the time he arrived and he said police were apologising to him.
Mr Maxwell is upset by the incident, which he said should not have happened.
He said his daughter did not look like the girl police were looking for and was on the opposite side of town.
He said the suspect was wearing a black top and black pants, while his daughter was in black pants and a maroon hoodie and carrying her schoolbag.
“How do you mistake a person as skinny as (and) wearing black clothes with a person in maroon jumper and black pants?,” he said.
“(And she was) on the other side of town, not hiding, and just walking across the bridge.
Mr Maxwell said his daughter who has a global development delay was shaken up by the incident.
“She was humiliated and terrified at the same time,” he said.
“It’s really shaken her up. She cried for four hours, and didn’t eat for 24 hours.”
Mr Maxwell labelled what the police did as “complete intimidation” and said even if it was not a case of mistaken identity, the force was too much.
“There is nothing you can say that would warrant what they did,” he said.
“I thought it was too excessive.
“Even if they were looking for a person that age, the way they approached her was wrong.
“They were looking for a young lady with a knife. If it was an adult with a gun, I might understand.
“I’m disgusted. It was totally inappropriate from start to finish. And unprofessional.”
Mr Maxwell said he had made an official complaint to police and had also engaged lawyers.
A police spokesperson said police had charged a different girl following an armed robbery in Benalla that day.
It is alleged the girl entered a supermarket on Faithfull St before producing an edged weapon and demanding money from a staff member about 1.50pm, police said.
The girl allegedly fled empty-handed, and no-one was injured during the incident.
A 17-year-old Benalla girl was arrested in Benalla at about 5pm the same day.
She has been charged with attempted armed robbery and possessing a controlled weapon and was bailed to appear before a children's court at a later date.
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