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The police conduct watchdog says an officer used excessive and unreasonable force during the arrest of a teenager who suffered a broken collarbone in Taupō three years ago.
The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) report said the 17 year-old had been drink-driving when the car she was driving crashed on the outskirts of the lakeside town on a rainy day in November 2020.
"It had been raining and the road was wet. Ms Z lost control of the vehicle, and it went across the road and down a grass bank. The car rolled at least once through farm fences, coming to rest on its wheels 15 metres into a paddock."
Its report said she was driving with a learner licence and should not have had a passenger, and was also later found to have above the zero-alcohol limit for a person aged under 20.
A fence strainer post had smashed through the car's windscreen when it crashed.
"The farmer heard the crash and found the two young women clambering out of the vehicle. As he called emergency services, he saw them walk away from the crash site. They were carrying alcohol. The farmer reported to police that the pair did not appear to be injured."
When police arrived, they could not find the pair.
"Unbeknown to the officers, the two young women had secreted themselves in a thick bush about 300 metres from the crash site, nearby to where police parked their vehicles," the IPCA said.
From her hiding spot in the bush, the teenager rang her grandfather, telling him she was in trouble and hiding from police after crashing the car. He told her to give herself up, but she refused.
Her grandfather and mother arrived at the scene of the crash, and police called on a dog handler who found the pair.
An officer led the teenager by her arm out of the bush, and the report describes her actions as "still abusing him and tried to push his hand away".
"While leading Ms Z from the bush towards the others who were about five metres away, Officer A forced Ms Z onto the ground, face down. He pulled her arms behind her back and applied handcuffs. Ms Z said she screamed out that he had broken her collarbone."
She was then handcuffed.
Later that evening, it was confirmed the teenager had a broken collarbone.
Police Bay of Plenty District Commander Superintendent Tim Anderson said police acknowledged the IPCA's findings that the officer used unreasonable force during the arrest.
Police conducted their own investigation and charged the officer with assault, of which he was later acquitted of in the Rotorua District Court and remains a police employee.
The IPCA said the police officer did not believe his actions would have broken the teenager's collarbone but they accept she suffered pain.
"A later medical examination was not able to indicate how or when the injury occurred," its report said.
"It is reasonably possible the injury occurred in the crash and that adrenaline and alcohol consumption masked the affliction until Officer A took the young woman to the ground."
But it said the officer used unreasonable force because he was not being assaulted by the teenager and was not acting to defend himself or another person.
