The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that the force used by one Police officer involved in arresting a man in Whangārei was unjustified.
On 10 January 2023, a car fled from Police. Two men abandoned the car and ran into an area of mangroves. A Police dog handler used his Police dog to track the two men through the mangroves. He was accompanied by two officers who followed behind him and his dog. One of the officers carried a sponge round launcher slung across his front.
The dog handler says a man “popped up” from a crouched position in the mangroves. He recognised the man as a person Police had been looking for to return to prison. The man started to run away. The dog handler issued a warning, but the man continued to run, and the dog handler released his dog. The dog bit the man on his right forearm. The Authority concluded that the use of the dog was justified.
The officer carrying the sponge round launcher ran toward the man. The officer says the man was resisting and punching the dog with his left hand. The officer told the man he was under arrest and tried to grab the man’s left arm, but he pulled it away. The officer says he delivered a palm strike to the man’s face to distract him, but the man continued to resist, and he wrestled with the man to get his hands behind his back.
During the process of being secured, the man received a crescent shaped wound (consistent with the barrel of the sponge round launcher) to the top of his head. The officer says the wound may have accidentally been caused by the unsecured sponge round launcher.
For his part, the man says he recalls an officer running toward him, telling him not to move before smashing him over the head with what he thought was the butt of a gun. The third officer says the officer carrying the sponge round launcher told the man to stop resisting and struck the man on the top of his head with the sponge round launcher, bringing the barrel of the weapon down with both hands.
The dog handler says he did not see the officer strike the man on the head with the sponge round launcher.
The Authority concluded that the officer’s palm strike was not justified. Nor did we accept that the man’s head wound could have been caused accidentally during the arrest process. In our assessment, on the balance of probabilities, the officer did strike the man in the head with the sponge round launcher, and this constituted an unjustified use of force.
Police completed their own investigation. They charged the officer with assault with a weapon. Following a trial before a judge and jury in August 2024, the jury was unable to reach a decision. After a second trial in August 2025, the officer was acquitted of the charge. Police then conducted an employment process with the officer.
The Authority has of course delayed the release of its public report until after the conclusion of court proceedings and the employment process which followed.