The police watchdog has found the force officers used to pull a young person out of a stolen car following a chase was unjustified.
Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
In December 2018, three cars were stolen in a ram raid in West Auckland.
The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) said one of the two cars that fled the scene was stopped soon after, but police had to use road spikes to stop the other on a motorway off-ramp.
The driver got out and was arrested. An officer smashed the front and rear passenger windows and pulled the passenger out.
The passenger was then restrained on the ground, arrested and remanded in custody at a youth justice residence.
IPCA chair Judge Colin Doherty said pulling the young person from the car was unnecessary and unjustified.
The officers who did so also failed to complete a tactical options report about their use of force, as required by police policy.
"Pulling the youth out of the broken window was not necessary," Judge Doherty said.
"Although he did climb into the back seat, he did not appear to be trying to get out of the car, and there was no urgency in removing him.
"The officers could have gone to the driver's side and removed him through a door or waited for him to get out on his own, which would have presented significantly less risk of injury."
The IPCA made a number of other findings in relation to the pursuit. It said there was a lack of clarity as to who was in command, the use of nudge bars to push the station wagon during the pursuit was outside of policy and the speed reached by one of the officiers during the incident was not justified.
Police accepted all of the IPCA's findings.
It said there were several lessons learned for the staff involved.