A police officer involved in a pursuit in Christchurch in February 2021 made false statements about his car being rammed, the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) said today.
The IPCA also found the officer's use of his dog in making an arrest was excessive.
The incident occurred when the dog handler located a man and a woman who were wanted for a series of burglaries targeting cigarettes across the South Island. Police believed they may be armed and the dog handler located them in a stolen car, driven by the man.
"A pursuit was initiated and abandoned less than two minutes later. Police then used road spikes to try to stop the car," the IPCA said.
"Police followed the car, and a short time later reported the man had rammed their vehicle.
"The car then drove into a side street and the couple fled on foot."
The dog then led its handler and another officer to a hedge, and the handler said he did not see who was behind it before sending the dog in to apprehend the person: "The woman received a serious dog bite injury to her leg."
IPCA chairman Judge Colin Doherty said "it is unreasonable to set a dog on an unknown person, who is neither escaping nor using force to resist arrest, for no other reason than that they may have a firearm, when there is no good cause to suspect that they actually do".
The IPCA also said the pursuit was "an inappropriate tactic in the circumstances", but the use of road spikes was reasonable.
"Police initially charged the man for driving into the officer's police car," the authority added."However, they later realised the damage to the cars was not consistent with the collision as described by the officer so the charges were withdrawn.
"We believe the officer deliberately drove into Mr Y's car, in breach of policy, and his subsequent statements were false.
"The authority found the investigating officer failed to adequately investigate the collision between the police car and fleeing car. He also submitted a Traffic Crash Report which was factually incorrect and supported charging the man with offences he did not commit."
'There are learnings from this incident'
Police acknowledged the IPCA's findings in a statement.
It said the collision was "low-speed" and that the dog's release was a "tactical decision" after the woman wouldn't come out.
Police took the woman to receive medical treatment for the bite, the statement added.
On the crash, Superintendent Karyn Malthus said "Police accepts there were errors made during our investigation".
"There are learnings from this incident and the officer who carried out the investigation has had this addressed with them," she said.
"Since this incident occurred Canterbury Police has implemented changes around how we investigate police crashes.
"This ensures independence and timeliness of investigations into police driving matters such as this type of incident."
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