The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found an officer’s use of a taser on a young person who had stolen a small tractor and led police on an 18 kph pursuit was an “unreasonable and excessive use of force”.
Shortly after midnight on Monday, April 16, 2018, an intoxicated 15-year old stole a tractor in Kaiwaka and drove to Wellsford.
The driver did several U-turns on the highway and drove on the opposite side of the road and also damaged the garage of a sports ground.
A third officer planned to set road spikes in Wellsford, but the young driver attempted to avoid them by driving up on the footpath. He stopped the tractor but kept the engine running.
The officer fired his taser at the driver, who rolled off the tractor onto the ground, where police arrested him.
The authority found that it was not appropriate for the officer to fire the taser in the circumstances, as the driver did not pose an immediate threat once the tractor had stopped and there were more appropriate actions the officer could have taken.
Authority chair, Judge Colin Doherty said the “officer’s breaches in policy could have resulted in unnecessary injury to the driver”.
Waitemata District Commander Superintendent Naila Hassan says Police accept the findings of the report.
