The New Zealand Herald

Use of van ‘justified’ to stop driver

Police have been found justified in using their dog van to strike an offender, knocking him to the ground.

The Independen­t Police Conduct Authority said in a report just released that use of a police vehicle as a “weapon of opportunit­y” in the specific circumstan­ces was justified, after a high-speed pursuit that exposed members of the public to danger.

The report into the incident in Henderson, Auckland in December 2022 was delayed until the end of court proceeding­s.

The offender claimed the action wasn’t justified because he had surrendere­d before the dog van struck him.

“I knew I was under arrest, so I put my hands up and I just remember standing there for about five seconds, 10 seconds and then this car . . . just rams me straight away, boom,” he told the authority.

On the afternoon of December 5, 2022, police responded to reports that a man had presented a pistol at two different people while attempting to steal their vehicles. That led to a police pursuit that involved the offender breaking into two houses, taking another car, and driving towards other vehicles and sideswipin­g one.

After his vehicle was spiked on Lincoln Rd and came to a stop, the offender ran about 80 metres, and then turned towards officers chasing him. By that time the dog handler arrived in his dog van.

Seeing the man in the middle of the road, the dog handler accelerate­d and struck the offender with the front bumper of the van.

The offender was struck in the torso and he fell backwards on to the road where he was handcuffed.

The officer said that when he arrived at the scene, realising he did not have time to use his police dog, he considered the options and believed there was “no less violent means available to me at the time”.

The chairman of the Independen­t Police Conduct Authority, Judge Kenneth Johnston, KC, said that in these specific circumstan­ces, the use of his dog van to strike the offender and bring an end to the serious incident appeared to be a proportion­ate use of force, and therefore justified.