Baton use condemned by Judge

Press, 22 February 1982, Page 6

Baton use condemned by Judge

PA Auckland The use of a police riot baton during an arrest for a “minor offence” has been condemned by an Auckland judge, who rejected much of the evidence given him by a constable. Judge Hall’s comments, in a reserved decision delivered on Friday, stemmed from a hearing in the District Court at Auckland earlier this month relating to an incident at the Downtown Service Station on November 22 last. Before him were Trevor Wyvern James Carson, Duane Peter Henderson, and Devin Lloyd Oliver.

Carson had pleaded' guilty to a charge of behaving in an offensive manner, but denied resisting Constable G. D. Christian and assaulting Con-

stables P. R. Bray and J. Toleafoa.

Henderson denied resisting Constable Christian and wilfully obstructing him. Oliver denied wilfully obstructing Constables Christian and Bray. Judge Hall said Constable Christian arrested Carson about 1 a.m. after seeing him urinate at the rear of the station forecourt.

A few minutes later the other two were also arrested and all three were put in a police van. By that time Carson had suffered a 2cm long scalp laceration, bruising about the pelvis and the left forearm, and other abrasions and small lacerations.

Henderson was bleeding from a wound on the upper

lip, had a small bruise on the left arm, and tenderness over the left ribs consistent with a baton poke. Judge Hall said that what took place between Carson’s arrest and the placing of all three defendants in the van was the subject of “confusing and inconsistent" evidence.

The Judge said that in spite of factors such as the time lapse, there remained such a gulf between the different versions that he was driven to reject a good deal of the evidence as being “totally unreliable.”

Constable Christian’s reasons for removing the baton and using it on Carson was the first big conflict in evidence, he said.

The Judge said two con-

stables ought easily to have contained and dealt with the arrest for a minor offence without “almost immediate resort to severe blows with a PR 24 baton. Such a reaction by Constable Christian I can only regard as extreme.” He dismissed all charges against the defendants, other than the one that Carson admitted and the resisting charge against him, for which there was sufficient evidence.

An Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mr B. W. Gibson, said on Saturday that an inquiry was being held into the matter. It would look into issues raised by the Judge.

He said he expected to receive a report this week.