Person had taser pointed at them by woman after a police officer let her hold it

Thursday, 1 July 2021

A Wellington police officer has received a sanction and apologised after letting a woman hold his taser, which the woman then pointed at a member of the public.

The member of the public laid a complaint following the incident in July last year. An investigation was undertaken by police, overseen by the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA).

The complaint alleged the officer allowed a female member of the public to hold his taser.

She then pointed and arced it – pushing the taser’s arc button without an air cartridge fitted, causing it to display an arc of electricity across the front of the taser – at the complainant, who was walking past at the time.

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Arcing is used by police as a visual deterrent in conjunction with a verbal warning, according an IPCA report from 2018.

During the investigation, the officer explained that he gave the taser to the woman for educational reasons, due to her lack of understanding around how it was used and subsequent effects.

The officer had removed the cartridges from the taser prior to handing it to the woman.

An IPCA summary of police’s investigation said the officer received an appropriate sanction for his error of judgement – it did not divulge what the sanction was – and he apologised to the complainant.

“The Authority agreed with the outcome of the police investigation and the actions taken,” the summary said.

Police declined to comment on where the incident took place, stating it was unable to expand on IPCA’s statement.