Three-year flip: police face assault charges after clearing NRL star

A three-year legal saga that began when an NRL player was accused of attacking police in a restaurant brawl has taken another dramatic turn this week, with two serving officers now pleading not guilty to assault charges in the same incident.

Canberra Raiders hooker Tom Starling, now 25, was initially charged with seven offences after a December 2020 altercation at Shady Palms restaurant in Kincumber on the NSW Central Coast. The charges — including attempting to take a police officer's gun — painted a picture of an athlete involved in a serious assault on law enforcement. But CCTV footage told a different story, and all charges against Starling were dropped. The footballer was later found not guilty of resisting police.

Now the tables have turned. Senior Constable Steven Lockwood Brown, 49, and Sergeant Evan Huw Prowse, 37, face assault charges for their actions during that same chaotic night. At Gosford Local Court this week, their legal representatives entered not-guilty pleas on their behalf, setting the stage for a trial scheduled for May 2.

The case offers a rare and striking example of how video evidence can overturn initial police narratives and hold officers themselves accountable — though proving that accountability remains far from certain.

The incident began around 11 p.m. when Starling and his brothers were celebrating a friend's 21st birthday at the Kincumber venue. Security guard Khan Morris allegedly triggered the brawl by insulting Starling's mother; Morris denied the allegation but was later charged with assaulting Starling's father, David. When police arrived to restore order, an altercation broke out between the officers and members of the Starling group.

What happened in those few minutes — who struck whom, whether force was reasonable, what the officers actually witnessed — has been disputed ever since. For Starling, the original charges were catastrophic: if convicted on those serious offences, he faced imprisonment. Instead, he became the beneficiary of CCTV footage that exonerated him entirely.

The personal toll on Starling has been severe. His lawyer revealed that he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in the wake of the incident, and the Starling family is now reportedly seeking up to $1 million in damages from NSW Police. His brother Josh was convicted of resisting police and assaulting Morris but received no conviction and was placed on good behaviour bonds; his other brother Jackson was initially charged but later cleared.

For the two officers, the past three years have been their own ordeal — enduring investigation, charges, and the prospect of a trial. Their lawyer argued outside court this week that they had arrived to help people in a chaotic situation, a defence common in police conduct cases.

The May hearing will determine whether their actions crossed the line from appropriate intervention into assault. Whatever the verdict, the case underscores how pivotal video evidence has become in disputes over what happened in moments of chaos.