Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that the police had wrongfully arrested a man over a fire in West Auckland last year.
Officers were attending a reported rubbish fire on a vacant property in Westgate in May 2024, and were told by the caretaker of the property that a trespassed person was responsible for the fire.
The caretaker told officers that the person frequented the property over the past few months, and she'd seen his car parked outside the property two hours earlier.
She gave officers the person's details and his photograph.
Shortly after, a man from a neighbouring property approached the officers aggressively and yelled at them "You wanna know who lit the fire, it was that b****! Same one that took my container!"
The officers believed this person was the suspect the caretaker referred to and handcuffed him.
However after being handcuffed, the person gave their name and date of birth, at which point officers realised he wasn't that person - and immediately apologised and released him.
The person complained to the IPCA about the arrest and claims that officers had used "excessive force" to handcuff him.
He also complained that one of the officers "managed to grab my genitals hard," when searching his pockets.
The IPCA found that the arrest was unlawful given the information the officers had at the time didn't give them "good cause to suspect" that the person had commited an offence.
However, the IPCA was satisfied from witness accounts that the force used to handcuff the man was not excessive.
It also accepted one of the officer's denial of grabbing the man's genitals.
"We consider if there was any connection with Mr Z's genitals, it was likely inadvertent during the search of Mr Z's pockets," it said.
The police said it welcomed the authority's findings.
Waitematā District Commander Superintendent Naila Hassan said staff were acting with good intentions at the time, when they suspected the man had commited the offence.
"However, we accept they did not have good cause to suspect the man committed arson and as such did not have grounds to make the arrest.
"Our staff apologised to this man and we have had discussed learnings around this event with them," she said.
