An Auckland police officer who helped arrest a burglary suspect used excessive force that broke the law, the Independent Police Conduct Authority has found.
The officer stomped on the suspect's head at least twice during the arrest in Mangere East on December 29 last year.
According to the IPCA, four officers in two patrol cars attend the incident on Kiwi Esplanade while the police Eagle helicopter provided updates.
Two officers who arrived saw two suspects running down the street. They ran after them and caught them. One of the suspects, described in the report as Mr X, ignored instructions to put his hands behind his back and resisted arrest.
Three other officers arrived to help and Mr X ended up lying face down on the ground with his arms beneath him. He ignored requests to put his arms where the officers could see him, the IPCA said.
At that point a fourth officer arrived and, without prior knowledge of the situation, yelled at Mr X and "put his boot down forcefully on Mr X's head on at least two occasions", the report said. Mr X gave up and was handcuffed and arrested.
The three officers who were first at the scene raised concerns about the actions of the fourth with their supervisors.
They described them as "stomping" on Mr X's head multiple times and being "quite aggressive" and "excessive".
The officer claimed he believed the offender may have been armed and his actions were an attempt to prevent Mr X from harming himself by thrashing his head around.
IPCA chairman Judge Sir David Carruthers said although there were variations in the descriptions of how the fourth officer acted, at a minimum, it involved the violent application of force.
"The authority has found that the officer's justifications for his actions are untenable. In the authority's view the officer was using the force complained of simply in order to gain compliance.
"There were other less violent ways in which that could have been achieved. His actions therefore constituted excessive force, were not justified in the circumstances and were contrary to law," Sir David said.
The Auckland City District Police commander said he acknowledged the IPCA finding's finding over the use of excessive force.
Superintendent Richard Chambers said he was satisfied that, although the alleged burglar who repeatedly resisted several officers' attempts to arrest him declined to provide a statement to the authority, its finding is consistent with the concerns expressed by other attending officers.
"While it's disappointing that one of my staff has been judged by the Authority to have used excessive force during an attempted arrest, I accept that, in all probability, he could have used a less forceful option to ensure the offender complied with the instructions of all officers at the December 29 incident."
Mr Chambers said he noted the IPCA's conclusion was reached on the civil standard of the 'balance of probabilities' which had a lower threshold for proof than that required to establish criminal liability.
A spokeswoman for Auckland police confirmed the officer was still working in the Auckland region, and had not been charged in relation to the incident.
