The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) has deemed a traffic stop and the subsequent use of pepper spray by an officer against a female driver who later pleaded guilty to failing to stop and resisting arrest as ‘unjustified’.
The IPCA heard that on 22 December 2022, a road policing officer encountered a female driver who gave him a ‘thumbs down’ gesture while driving past.
“The officer believed the woman may have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol due to her behaviour, so signalled for her to stop,” Police said in a statement.
“Ms Z was followed to an address approximately 800 metres away, and did not comply with the officer’s request for her license, attempting to leave the scene.”
During an altercation to affect her arrest, she shut the officer’s hand in a door, causing a deep laceration. Ms Z was subsequently pepper sprayed by the officer, before being taken into custody.
She was charged with failing to stop, failing to provide her name and address and resisting arrest. She plead guilty to those charges in June last year.
The IPCA carried out an investigation into the matter, determining that the officer was unjustified in stopping the woman, and the subsequent use of force was also unjustified.
Superintendent Naila Hassan, Waitematā District Commander, said the officer involved was an experienced, having worked in road policing for more than a decade.
“Police consider that such gestures may reasonably indicate driver impairment, so stopping a driver’s vehicle to determine whether the driver is impaired is squarely within a police officer’s lawful authority,” said Commander Hassan.
Police note the IPCA’s consideration that unsolicited gestures are “not a genuine land transport purpose for a stop”.
“Police found his actions were lawful and justified given that he was acting within his capacity as a Police officer and in accordance with the Land Transport Act 1998,” Commander Hassan says.
She said that taking this into account, Police did not intend on taking further action in this matter.
