The police accepted the IPCA's findings. Photo: NZ Police
The police watchdog has found the tasering of a man by officers in 2019 was unjustified.
The man, who was waiting in Tauranga District Court cells at the time, was tasered three times after supposedly hitting officers.
While waiting to appear the man attempted to leave his cell, prompting officers to forcibly restrain him.
It was at this point one officer involved believed the man hit two other officers in the cell at the time.
This prompted the officer to taser the man once as he lunged towards him, then twice again while he was on the ground.
The officer believed the man was attempting to get up, armed with the sharp probes fired from the first taser shot. The Independent Police Conduct Authority later found contradictions to this.
CCTV footage, which the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) said was reviewed thoroughly, showed no evidence of the man attacking first.
The IPCA later found the officer's recount of events unreliable.
The officer responsible for tasering the man was charged with assault with a weapon for each of the three shots. He was acquitted by a jury last year.
The IPCA, however, concluded the officer was not being dishonest, and genuinely believed in his version of events.
The IPCA said the man, who suffered from mental illness, did not pose enough of a threat to justify the officer's response.
Authority chair Judge Colin Doherty said the footage made it clear the officer could not have perceived the man as such.
The police accepted the IPCA's findings.