Complaint about excessive force during arrest not upheld

29 January 2026

The Authority oversaw a Police investigation into a complaint that Police officers used unnecessary and excessive force during an arrest of a man in March 2025 in Auckland.

On the day of his arrest, the complainant had committed crimes including burglary, vehicle theft, dangerous driving (including ramming a Police car) and failing to stop for Police, for which he has since been charged and pleaded guilty. He eventually abandoned the stolen vehicle and attempted to escape on foot but was apprehended by officers.

The man later complained that when officers caught up with him, he surrendered but an officer deployed a Police dog, which bit him for 5 minutes. He said another officer punched him repeatedly in the face. He sustained a broken nose which, along with the dog bite, required hospital treatment.

The investigation found that:

• An officer tackled the man to the ground because he was still attempting to run away and did not surrender as he claimed.
• The Police dog was released around the same time, after the man had ignored appropriate warnings to stop and continued to run away; the dog handler could not see that other officers were close to the man, because the man had just jumped over a fence.
• When Police attempted to restrain the man on the ground and handcuff him, he continued to resist them. An officer attempted to strike the side of the man’s face with their palm to distract him, and likely unintentionally hit the man’s nose.
• The man’s claim that he was punched repeatedly in the face was not supported by any other evidence.
• The Police dog handler removed the dog as soon as the man was handcuffed. The man’s claim that the dog was biting him for around 5 minutes was not supported by the available evidence.

Police found that all the force used by officers during the arrest was justified, not excessive, and not in breach of policy.

The Authority is satisfied with the Police investigation and agrees with their finding.

IPCA: 25-27676