The police watchdog has ruled an officer used "unjustified and excessive" force when arresting a teenager who had crashed in a drunk driving accident.
The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) has criticised the male officer for his actions against a 17-year-old despite a court judge earlier acquitting the officer of charges.
On a rainy day in November 2020, a young woman and her friend were driving on the outskirts of Taupō.
The pair had been drinking and just before 5pm the driver, who was on her learner's licence, lost control of the car and it went off the road and rolled down a grass bank, through farm fences before stopping in a paddock.
When the farmer arrived at the crash site, he rang emergency services. The two young women, who he said did not appear injured, left the scene on foot and hid from police.
The driver's mother and grandfather travelled to the scene but were also unable to find the pair.
About two hours later, a police dog found the young women hiding nearby in a dense bush with the alcohol they had taken with them from the car.
One of the three police officers at the scene, referred to in the report as Officer A, took the driver from the bush and proceeded to physically escort her to her family members who were standing nearby. The report said the driver was being "abusive and uncooperative" towards Officer A.
Officer A told the Authority as he was leading the woman from the bush, she tried to pull away from him. He said she then tried to kick him or trip him up.
"I was thinking this girl wants to break away from me, she's trying to trip me up, she's now gone into the assaultive mode of trying to trip me up," he said.
Officer A then forcefully took her to the ground and applied handcuffs.
The young woman said she denied trying to trip Officer A and none of the witnesses saw her do that. She said suddenly, he put her down to the ground on her hands and knees. She says she tried to push back up, but Officer A forced her down and pulled her left arm back and her shoulder started to hurt.
"I felt it snap. My face got thrown into the ground and I was just, I couldn't see cos my vision just went all tipped and I just went all tipped and I just screamed. And then I started screaming 'He just broke my collarbone'," she said.
The woman's family members and another officer who witnessed Officer A's actions reported that it was unnecessary.
The woman was taken to hospital where she was found to have a broken collarbone, however, the IPCA could not determine how the injury occurred. It said it was reasonably possible the injury happened in the crash and that adrenaline and alcohol consumption masked the affliction until Officer A took the young woman to the ground.
However, on the evidence of eyewitnesses, the IPCA said the officer's actions in taking the woman to the ground were an unnecessary use of force when he already had her under control.
"We find that the force used by Officer A against [the woman] was both unjustified and excessive," the IPCA said.
Police conducted their own investigation and subsequently charged Officer A with assault, however, he was acquitted of the charge after a judge-alone trial in September at Rotorua District Court.
The IPCA acknowledged the Judge expressed different views to the conclusions it reached.
