A witness has spoken about the moment a man — who threatened police with a metal pole following a fleeing driver incident — was tasered and pepper sprayed in rural east Auckland yesterday.
The man later died, police said, noting there were now multiple investigations underway resulting from the incident at Ōrere Point on Sunday.
‘He wasn’t gonna give up’
Glenn Smith said he was at Ōrere Point when he saw a car come “flying down” the beach, doing about 70km/h.
“They got stuck in the rocks at the end of the beach and, next minute, a cop car came down.”
The passenger of the stuck vehicle — who Smith described as a “solid bloke” — got out of the car swinging a metal pole as three officers approached.
‘He wasn’t gonna give up, that’s for sure.”
Smith said the three officers backed off and went back in again, tasering him on the third attempt to get close to him.
“He was pepper sprayed twice, that I could see.”
‘Incredibly fast-moving and volatile’
Police this afternoon released more information about events leading up to the “critical incident”, in which an officer suffered a serious hand injury after being bitten by the man.
Assistant Commissioner Jill Rogers said the incident was an “incredibly fast-moving and volatile incident”.
An earlier police statement claimed the man had challenged police with a samurai sword but police said it could now be confirmed this was a metal pole.
Police initially saw the car on Sunday afternoon, which was being sought after an aggravated robbery of a bar in Takapuna the night before.
The Rudder on Hauraki bar was taped off after the robbery on Saturday night, with the offenders making off on Lime scooters to a nearby street before transferring to a vehicle to make their getaway.
Police picked up the trail of the vehicle of interest on Great South Rd in Papakura at around 2.15pm.
“The driver failed to stop for police and was monitored by the Eagle helicopter as it drove to Ōrere Point, where it came to a stop on the beach at around 3.20pm,” Rogers said.
“Officers have then deployed taser and pepper spray however the man has continued to resist arrest and an officer has suffered a serious hand injury after being bitten by the man,” she said, adding that the officer had since been discharged from Middlemore Hospital.
“A police dog was then deployed, and the man was eventually taken into custody but has quickly become unresponsive.
“Medical assistance was rendered immediately and a medical helicopter was dispatched. However, he was unable to be revived and was pronounced deceased at the scene.”
Rogers said several investigations were underway following the incident, including a critical incident investigation and a policy, practice, and procedure investigation.
“We would like to acknowledge the impact that yesterday’s events will have had on the community and our thoughts are with everyone involved.”
Additional inquiries would be carried out by WorkSafe and the Independent Police Conduct Authority.
A post-mortem examination would be carried out to establish the cause of death with police to make inquiries on behalf of the coroner.
