The teen filmed yesterday being punched by police during an incident in Auckland had been part of a group terrorising others, a local sports club manager says.
A 13-year-old was arrested and now faces four charges over the incident, which took place in the Auckland suburb of Highland Park about 3.30pm on Sunday.
Police say they were called to deal with a group of aggressive teens who were trying to fight others, and when they arrived the main aggressor refused to speak to police and fled on a bike.
When the arresting officers caught up with him, he allegedly resisted arrest and an officer used a "tactic", the Area Commander says, to get him to release his arm - in the form of a punch.
Others nearby filmed the arrest, and the boy's father Geoff Garnett expressed outrage, saying his son was only riding a bike without a helmet and that he intended to make a complaint.
However, Fencibles United AFC youth captain Jeannine Melville has told the NZ Herald of her encounter with some teens being chased on the day.
She said a small group of teenagers turned up at the clubrooms looking for refuge and help because they were being bullied and threatened by a large group of 15 teens.
"What would have happened to those poor children?" Ms Melville said.
"I don't know why they were being chased ... what if no one was there?"
A few minutes after they arrived, the second group also arrived, seeking the first group.
One of the club's managers reportedly told them to leave, which they did.
He watched them and called police, who were on the scene within five minutes.
Counties Manukau East area commander Inspector Wendy Spiller yesterday said that multiple calls were received about the group's threatening behaviour.
"Police staff quickly attended and tried to speak with the teenagers, however the main aggressor, who was 13-years-old, quickly tried to get away from police on a pushbike and was biking into traffic and ran through a red light," she said.
"The officer managed to borrow another bike and followed him for several minutes and caught up to him.
"It is at this point that people were filming on their cell phones and you see police trying to handcuff the teenager who was resisting arrest.
"The officer is shown carrying out a tactic that can be used to get an offender to release their arm so that we can put handcuffs on them.
"Very often our officers are filmed on cell-phones and this is posted on social media ... more often than not these videos will only show a portion of what has happened and perhaps not surprisingly, rarely show the full circumstances, such as our staff being assaulted, abused or spat at."
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