An independent report has found police used excessive force by deploying a dog unnecessarily during the arrest of a woman in Paeroa last year.
Superintendent Bruce Bird, the Waikato District Commander, said police acknowledge the findings on the incident, which resulted in the woman needing surgery for substantial injuries to her right arm. She was hospitalised for three days.
The event occurred around 8.49pm on 23 April 2017, when police began pursuing a stolen car in Paeroa. Ultimately, the three occupants abandoned the vehicle in their attempt to flee.
A dog handler was called to assist but after 40 minutes of tracking the occupants he was unable to find them. On the way back to the patrol car, the police dog began to show interest in a nearby paddock.
As the dog handler approached, he saw a woman crouched down on the top of a bank in the paddock. She said she had made herself visible, and put her hands above her head to show that she was surrendering.
The dog handler, however, said that when challenged by him the woman ran away into the paddock.
The woman was adamant that she did not run but stayed still on the ground as instructed - and was bitten anyway.
“The female was a passenger in a stolen vehicle. She was giving herself up to police," said Judge Colin Doherty, who chairs the Independent Police Conduct Authority. "The use of the dog was neither proportionate to the circumstances or the offence she had committed or appropriate when she was surrendering.
"The force used by the dog handler to apprehend the female was excessive.”
The authority did find that police provided appropriate medical assistance for the woman following the incident.
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