Man didn't have firearm when fatally shot by police

Kaaos Price. Photo: supplied
Kaaos Price. Photo: supplied
Police have revealed new details about the killing of a Taranaki man including that he was unarmed and had tried to carjack other cars the night he died.

Kaoss Price (22) died after police shot him following a vehicle stop of an associate of his as the pair were driving in separate cars along State Highway 3 between New Plymouth and Waitara about 9.30pm on Saturday.

Police say Price - from Bell Block - drove past the area where his associate had been stopped, before turning around and ramming a police car.

Assistant Commissioner Sandra Venables said today that Price had driven at high speed toward police - with his headlights switched off - before crossing the centre line and narrowly missing the stationary police car.

"He continued down the road before making a second U-turn and driving back toward police, this time ramming the police car at speed," Venables said

The force of the impact "shunted" the police car off the road.

Price then left his car and tried to drive a number of other vehicles.

In total the scene of the incident stretched about 230 metres along SH3, and 15 vehicles and one trailer were examined.

Venables said Price was shot while attempting to take control of one of these vehicles and confirmed that he was unarmed.

"Police immediately commenced first aid, however, Mr Price was pronounced dead at the scene by ambulance staff."

Venables said police did not recover any firearms from the scene.

A post-mortem has been completed and Price has been returned to whānau, who are being supported by police and other services.

Venables has appealed for witnesses to come forward.

"Police would like to speak to anyone with information or footage that may assist the inquiry."

Information can be provided to police by emailing: OperationWoods@police.govt.nz."

An investigation team is being led by a detective superintendent, detective inspector and detective senior sergeant.

Corrections investigation

Corrections is investigating how Price's community-based sentence was managed by its staff before his death.

A spokesperson confirmed to the New Zealand Herald that an "event review" would be carried out.

The Herald was working to confirm to what offence his sentence corresponded. It was understood Price was charged in late February  this year and had a scheduled appearance in court this week.

In addition to standard release conditions, Price also had to adhere to special release conditions, including not taking drugs or alcohol, to seek employment and attend a rehabilitation programme.

"[Price's] compliance with both his standard and special release conditions remain subject to our ongoing event review," the spokesperson said.

Commissioning an event review was decided on a case-by-case basis, depending on the severity of the incident.

The review would be assigned to someone not directly involved in Price's management, but someone with the knowledge to provide a thorough review and detailed findings.

The parameters of the review were determined upon its commission and varied depending on the incident.

The review would likely discuss Corrections' standards of practice, as well as an "analysis of risk assessments and how our decisions or actions aligned with the assessed level of risk", the spokesperson said.