The Authority received a complaint from a man who alleged Police assaulted him when he was arrested for a driving offence in Orewa in July 2020. Two officers were involved, and the man suffered a broken thumb and grazes to his body.
The Authority referred this to Police and oversaw the investigation.
The Police investigation found the man had driven away from a Police patrol when signalled to stop. He was located soon after in his car down a private driveway. When he failed to get out of the car, he was pulled out by one of the officers, taken to the ground and handcuffed. As he was being led to the police car by the second officer, the man resisted resulting in both accidently falling to the ground, which likely caused the injury to the man’s thumb.
The investigation found that the use of force by both officers was justified in the circumstances.
The Authority agrees with this finding.
IPCA: 20-5245