A police officer assaulted a man, kneeled on his head with his full weight, and threw him onto the bonnet of a car unlawfully during an arrest, according to the Independent Police Conduct Authority.
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The police officer was charged and pleaded guilty to injuring with reckless disregard.
In a separate event, the same police officer was found to have grabbed a 14-year-old around the neck and slammed him into a window from behind, which was unreasonable and excessive. The 14-year-old had stolen a phone but had given it back before the officer did this.
The officer ended up resigning from police.
In the first incident, on 21 September, 2018, a drunk man was seen urinating in the Tauranga CBD. Officers stopped and a verbal altercation ensued, after which one of the officers told him he was under arrest.
The man did not comply and the officer got physical. The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) found the officer was not justified in arresting the man, and therefore all subsequent uses of force were unlawful.
IPCA Chair Judge Colin Doherty said: "In throwing the man to the ground in the street and deliberately kneeling on his head, sometimes with his full weight, the officer's actions posed a significant risk of serious harm to the man.
"The officer's actions in poking the man in the chest, pushing him onto the bonnet of the patrol car by his throat, pulling him to his feet by the handcuffs and shoving him in the back were all unnecessary and therefore unjustified uses of force. They were excessive and unlawful. The cumulative effect of all the uses of force showed that the officer had no regard for the man's wellbeing.
"The officer was deliberately dishonest in his accounts to the Authority and Police about the man's behaviour after he was taken to the ground at the time of arrest. The officer's partner's version of events also lacked credibility."
Police charged the officer with three offences. He pleaded guilty to injuring the man with reckless disregard. Two assault charges were withdrawn.
The officer was sentenced to nine months supervision and was ordered to pay $1000 reparation to the man. The officer resigned from police before the court process was finished.
In a separate event, the same officer arrested a 14-year-old boy in an Oranga Tamariki office for aggravated robbery in an unjustified manner.
The boy had wielded a screwdriver when stealing a phone from someone, in March 2019 in Tauranga.
Police found the boy at an Oranga Tamariki office in the care of social workers. The social workers persuaded the boy to give them the phone, which he did.
As the boy was walking away to leave the office, a second police officer, officer B, told the boy, referred to as 'Z', he was under arrest.
Officer A, the man in question, then acted.
"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," the IPCA brief said.
"Our investigation found that it was open for the officers to arrest Z as they reasonably believed this was necessary to prevent further offending," Judge Doherty said.
"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."
The Police charged Officer A with assault but this was withdrawn. The officer resigned in May 2021, before the outcome of the first charges, in relation to the first man, were decided.
The police accept the findings.
Bay of Plenty District Commander Superintendent Andy McGregor said the officer fell short of the professionalism they expected from staff.
He said police took appropriate action in charging the man with criminal offences after they investigated the allegations and found them unjustifiable.
