A prominent anti-vaxxer and former political candidate was caught on camera being tasered and arrested in Northland on Monday after allegedly refusing to wear a mask at a liquor store.
Former Social Credit candidate Brad Flutey was filmed outside Whangārei's Paramount Plaza shopping mall on Monday after visiting Liquorland Tikipunga.
Acting Inspector Darren Sullivan from Whangārei Police told Newshub police were responding to a disorder incident at the liquor store after a man refused to wear a mask.
"It was reported to police the man was being abusive towards staff and other members of the public," Insp Sullivan told Newshub.
"Our staff attempted to speak with the man, however he continued to be aggressive towards them."
The store owner asked officers to tell Flutey to leave the premises, but he refused.
"[The man] continued to act aggressively, with police warning the man about his behaviour. Despite this warning he continued to act in a hostile manner and was subsequently placed under arrest," Sullivan said.
In the process of being arrested, the 35-year-old "violently resisted" police staff, assaulting them on several occasions.
Flutey was eventually tasered and taken into custody.
However, Flutey says he didn't commit a crime and claims he was pepper-sprayed as he left the shop "on [his] own volition". He says he was "assaulted by corporate enforcement officers" and tasered twice.
"First one didn't work (just snap the cables if this happens to you). Second one (in the back) was from an unknown mufti assailant who never identified himself as constable or anything else," Flutey wrote in a post on Telegram.
"The offending enforcement officer who claimed to be acting under the office of constable got put on his arse because he kicked me in the nuts by way of excessive force.
"A blue corporate piggy is either going to be fired or apprehended by the lawful."
The four-minute-long video shows two uniformed officers and a third in plain clothing surrounding Flutely in the mall carpark.
"I'm not under arrest, I've not committed crimes," Flutey tells the officers.
He then appears to throw a punch at one officer and tries to wrestle the taser off another. An officer kicks him and the other two cops hold Flutey's arms back to try and get handcuffs on him.
Flutey is then kneed in the lower body and he tries to get out of the officers' grasp. In doing so, he kicks one cop to the ground and the person videoing, understood to be his daughter, is heard laughing at this.
Much of the dialogue between Flutey and the officers is impossible to hear because most of the video was filmed from inside a car. However, he is heard telling offers to "back off" and he attempts to make a run for it through the carpark.
As Flutey walks away from the officers, he's tasered in the back and he's told to "stay down" as they put him in handcuffs. He then says he "hasn't been resisting".
Flutey is a former Social Credit candidate who in the past has organised 'freedom' protests against the use of COVID-19 checkpoints. He's also been seen at a QAnon protest in Wellington.
Sullivan confirmed police are looking to lay charges over the incident.
