A neighbour who witnessed an incident during which a man was Tasered by police in Auckland last Sunday thinks police used excessive force on him.
The man died in hospital yesterday morning after being taken to the Auckland Police Custody Unit in what police described as an agitated state.
Police have this afternoon named him as 29-year-old Alo Ngata, from Tonga.
Police say they received multiple reports on Sunday of a male violently assaulting an elderly man outside a residential address in Beresford Street, Freemans Bay.
A neighbour, who wishes to remain anonymous has today told 1 NEWS that before being Tasered, the man came up the resident's driveway.
"In the beginning I saw this guy and he came running up my driveway and was hanging on to his chest, bent over, and I thought he was having a heart attack. He was screaming in pain," the neighbour said.
"He then came back and ran towards the road towards a silver ute and began kicking and beating that and bashing his head on it.
"Then he ran back off the road and was still holding on to his chest . So I called out to my son to ring the ambulance. Then the next minute I came out to see if he was okay and he was up holding onto his head saying, 'I've done it now, I've done it now'."
The neighbour believes there had been a fight, "and I believe this guy had left the elderly guy lying on the ground".
"I still wonder if he wasn't having a heart attack before he got Tasered, if he was holding on to his chest like he was.
"He wouldn't have been older than 30.
"I do think police used excessive force on him though."
The neighbour said the local residents, "don't know who the elderly guy is, no one can work it out. But a lot of people come through the back cul-de-sac from K Road and that happens quite a lot".
"The whole of the place [the street] is absolutely drug ridden, it has been for years."
The neighbour said the police helicopter was up, "but police took quite a while to get here, so did the ambulance".
Auckland City District Commander Superintendent Karyn Malthus, today told media the Police Eagle helicopter was first dispatched to the scene and police witnessed the alleged offender assaulting an elderly man, kicking him five or six times which left him unconscious.
A male and a female officer then arrived and attempted to subdue the man but "he went towards them in a threatening manner" Superintendent Malthus said.
One of the officers deployed their Taser twice, hitting the man but they were ineffective.
The second officer then used their Taser, hitting him twice again which brought him to the ground where he continued to resist.
It eventually took four officers to restrain him and they restrained his hands and feet and put a spit hood on him for safety.
"The offender was transported to the Auckland Police Custody Unit in an agitated state and continued resisting police efforts to remove restraints.
"The offender's condition began to deteriorate while in custody and police were required to perform CPR until an ambulance arrived.
"He was taken to hospital where he passed away yesterday morning," Superintendent Malthus said.
She said if the officers hadn't used Tasers they would be seriously injured or dead and called it a "violent and volatile" incident.
Footage of the incident has been reviewed, but will not be released to the public at this time as the investigation is ongoing.
Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the assault and the death in custody.
The matter has been referred to the Coroner, Worksafe New Zealand and the Independent Police Conduct Authority.
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