The police watchdog says an officer shouldn't have punched a man a second time while he struggled to handcuff him
The police watchdog says an officer shouldn't have punched a man a second time while he struggled to handcuff him
22 September 2020
It happened in Taranaki in December last year, when the cop went to arrest a man, over an earlier incident.
The Independent Police Conduct Authority says the first punch to the abdomen was reasonable to distract the man when resisting arrest.
However, Authority chair Judge Colin Doherty says the second punch to the face wasn't.
He accepts the officer's explanation he was acting in self-defence because he believed the man was about to spit at him.
However, he says the officer could have prevented the man from spitting without punching him.
Police say it was a fast-moving situation on a steep bank area involving an intoxicated person who was resisting being taken into custody having been arrested.
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