A police officer's kick to the head of a man in handcuffs was unjustified, the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) has found.
The man was arrested for disorderly behaviour at his townhouse on Christchurch's Madras Street in early March 2021.
Police were called to the address because the man was intoxicated, yelling abuse, gesturing rudely and throwing items from his balcony, the IPCA said, and officers later returned to arrest him after initially issuing a warning.
The IPCA found that the man "became agitated" when handcuffed and "lunged at one officer", before kicking a second officer in the head and upper leg.
"The first officer warned the man not to kick him and tried to control the man's knee with his hand. However, the man kicked the officer's head," the authority said. "Immediately, the officer kicked the handcuffed man's head with his booted heel.
"The man's head hit the driveway and he was unresponsive for approximately 30 seconds. The officers called an ambulance, then took the man into custody."
The IPCA found that the officer's kick was unjustified and added that "some of the language used towards the man was antagonistic".
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"Having viewed CCTV footage of the incident, we did not accept the officer's assertion that he kicked the man's head to defend either himself or his colleague.
"Further, we were concerned by the failure of both officers to inform the sergeant at the custody suite that the man had been kicked in the head and had lost consciousness."
Judge Colin Doherty, the IPCA's authority chairman, said "the immediacy of the officer's response to being kicked in the head himself indicates a retaliatory action in my view".
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"The footage of this incident circulated on social media at the time and drew a negative public response. It is not hard to see why."
Police have accepted the IPCA's findings, adding that the man involved was charged with assaulting police, resisting arrest and disorderly behaviour. He pled guilty to all charges.
"Police carried out a thorough investigation into this matter," Canterbury Metro Area Commander Superintendent Lane Todd said.
"There are always learnings from incidents such as these and we always take the opportunity to look at what we could have done differently or better.
"While in general we don't comment on employment matters, we will say the officer remains a member of the New Zealand Police."
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