Crowd ‘ugliness to police’

Press, 30 August 1980, Page 7

Crowd ‘ugliness to police’

Evidence that a defendant! vomited after being put in a: choker hold and that the reaction of a large crowd became “ugly” and anti-police, was given in the District Court yesterday, during the hearing of charges against three men. The charges resulted from an alleged fracas in Cathedral Square late on the. evening of July 4.' The sixth and last con-i stable to be heard was being! cross-examined when the hearing was adjourned partheard to Monday. Judge Ryan was on the Bench. The defendants were Eli Teahau Tainui, aged 19, unemployed (Mr M. J. Glue) who denied charges ofresisting and wilfully obstructing Constable M; S. Bovce in the! execution of his duty, and' B r endan Paul Nolan, aged; 25, a contractor, who denied; a charge of using obscene) language, and Matthew John! Nolan, aged 26. a liaison | officer, who denied charges' of psing obscene language; and inciting persons to wil-i fully obstruct a constable in’ the execution of his duty. : Both Nolans were represented by Mr M. J. Knowles. I Constable M. S. Boyce said that while he was assisting another constable! to take a prisoner to a! police vehicle Tainui ap-l proached him and asked; why his friend had been ar-) rested.

I He was told to leave the, area, but pushed past the constable in an effort to reach the man. ; He was led away from the! area and warned not to) . interfere, but “hung around”.' ’argued with and abused police officers. Tainui again pushed past! .the witness and took the ar-; ’rested man by the arm and. i attempted tc lead him away ifrom the po'ice car. The defendant was again! led away and warned, but! : again pushed past rhe coh-; stable and was arrested. ! He broke free of the constable twice and when the; constable put a choker hold; on him he struggled and' .both fell t 0 the ground. ) Another constable assisted; jin handcuffing him. When; .being taken to the police carl he tried to break free sev-j jera! times and did not stop! struggling until placed in; I the car. ' Asked at the police station to explain his behaviour the ijdefendant laughed and said I he was enjoying himself and! 'just had a big mouth. i The constable said the! person arrested at the start! 'of the mcident struggled' ; violently to try to break free! .and the defendant’s actions; Ihelned him do so. While the constable was; I dealing with Tainui. Mat-1 ; thew Nolan walked from a: hamburger bar area towards; •‘The Press” building,!

shouting at the witness and others. ' He made a remark about the C.I.A and also asked why the police were only arresting “the black ones.” As a result, of Nolan’s shouting the crowd gathered around and became progressively more aggressive towards the police, Constable Boyce said. To .Mr Glue the witness said the original trouble involved another youth. Referred to complaints made in k newspaper about alleged excessive force used by the police, he denied that his behaviour had been excessive. He did not see Tainui kicked in the stomach, hit, or punched. He denied that he had arrested Tainui immediately and said he had first asked him to move away. To Mr Knowles, the wit-) ness said no police officers'! he saw used anything but; reasonable force. He denied that when he! was struggling with a youth) and Tainui appeared, that he; had “seen red” and got) stuck into Tainui. Nor did) he see any other police officer punch Tainui. ; Constable M. J. Cunning-i ham said that while police were having difficulty ar- ) resting one person, Matthew Nolan waved his arms in the air and called out abuse to the police to attract the crowd’s attention.

His remarks included ref-, erences to police brutality. Spectators then became involved and other arrests were made. To Mr Knowles, the constable said he did not consider the police got angry and over-reacted because ■ they were being criticised. They could not have handled the incident in any other way. Constable M. W. Clemett said that while Constable Boyce had a choker hold on Tainui he saw a small group behind him yelling abuse at the police about using too much force. Asked by Mr Glue if the pressure applied by a choker hold gave the sensation of being short of breath and caused a person to lash out desperately, the witness said, .he thought it would have, .the opposite effect. Mr Glue: Once that vital! ’flow of oxygen is stopped. The constable said that) iwhen Tainui was on the' ’ground. handcuffed. he began vomiting. An attemptI was made to stop him vomiting but a friend intervened. Re-examined. the constable said the defendant appeared groggy. He considered this was from the effects of drink and the choker hold. Constable W. J. Hadley also gave evidence of the struggle and said a large crowd gathered, and seemed

to be angered that force was; needed to overcome the per- 1 sons arrested. When Tainui was handcuffed, the group, which in eluded the two Nolans, converged on the police in an extremely ugly mood. He feared police members would be seriously injured, and tried to move the crowd back. Matthew Nolan was the most vocal and made remarks such as “C.I.A. tac-| tics” and “team policing.” ) He shouted towards the crowd, inciting them on and telling them not to move back. He repeated this in-: citement when efforts were again made to move the crowd back. He made an obscene remark when taken by the! arm to move him back. He) was then arrested for using’ obscene language. He continued yelling to the crowd when put into a) police car. ; Constable P. A. Toney-i cliffe said, the crowd’s mood probably changed when Tainui was arrested. The crowd’s reaction was; very much against the police; and was quite ugly by the! end of the incident. Later. Brendan Nolan had said he had poked his nose; into something that did not; concern him and had suffer-; ed the consequences, said! the constable. Matthew) Nolan gave no explanation) for his behaviour. I