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Excessive Use Of Force During Arrest Of Youth In Tauranga

The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that an officer’s use of force when arresting a 14-year-old boy in March 2019 was unjustified. While the arrest was lawful, it was undesirable and could have been avoided.

Two officers responded to a report of an aggravated robbery at an Internet café in Tauranga. They had been told Z had used a screwdriver to steal a cell phone from another person at the café. They located Z at the Oranga Tamariki office in the care of social workers. The officers agreed that the social workers should talk to Z and try to persuade him to hand over the cell phone. The officers waited in an adjoining office. Z did hand over the cell phone to the social workers, but then walked to the lift to leave the office.

At this time, Officer B followed and told Z he was under arrest for theft. Without warning, Officer A suddenly lunged at Z from close range. Officer A put both of his hands around Z’s neck and slammed him into the window behind. He then took Z to the ground where he was handcuffed before being taken to the police station. In the course of the incident, Z suffered soft tissue damage to a shoulder and was provided with a sling to wear for several days.

Officer A said he acted as he did because Z was resisting arrest and he believed Z was about to become assaultive. Also, he said he was concerned that Z could have been trying to remove a secreted weapon and use it on either of the officers. One of the social workers who was present complained about Officer A’s actions. The incident was captured on CCTV.

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Authority Chair, Judge Colin Doherty says: “Our investigation found that it was open for the officers to arrest Z as they reasonably believed this was necessary to prevent further offending. However, given Z’s age and his increased agitation around Police, the preferable option was for Police to interview Z at the Oranga Tamariki office in the presence of his social worker and then summons Z to appear in Court. This would have avoided the need to arrest Z and take him to the Police Station to interview and charge him.

Officer A did not have any legal justification for using force on Z. Our investigation established that Z was not resisting arrest at all. Z simply walked away from Officer B before any attempt was made to arrest him. We do not believe that Z was acting as if he were going to remove a weapon from his clothing, nor do we believe that Officer A thought he was doing so. We do not accept that Officer A was acting in defence of himself or anyone else. His use of force on Z was unreasonable and excessive.”

Police charged Officer A with assaulting Z, but this was later withdrawn. Police also charged Officer A with two counts of assault and a charge of injuring with reckless disregard in relation to a separate arrest of a man on 21 September 2018. The Authority is also releasing its public report on that matter today.

Officer A resigned from Police before the Court outcome was finalised. The Authority has delayed the release of its public reports until the related court proceedings concluded.

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