Policeman Jason Te Huia on restricted duties for racially abusing security guard
Friday, 25 August 2017
A police officer is on restricted duties after he racially abused a Queenstown security guard, saying 'I can smell you. It smells Asian like a dog'.
Invercargill police constable Jason Te Huia – who joins a growing list of southern police officers to hit the headlines for the wrong reasons – was discharged without conviction in May after pleading guilty to a charge of intending to insult a person in a public place.
A ruling by Judge Alistair Garland said Te Huia and an associate went to Queenstown's Sky City Casino at 1.45am on September 3 last year when the offending unfolded.
A security staffer, of Korean descent, denied the two men entry to the casino because he believed they were too intoxicated.
Te Huia's associate argued they were not too drunk to enter, but when they were again refused entry, Te Huia racially abused the security guard, Judge Garland's ruling says.
'I can smell you. It smells Asian like a dog,' he yelled at the security guard.
'You have shoestring eyes. I see you have no shoe strings in your shoes. Where are your shoe strings? Shoe lace eyes. Slant eyes.'
Te Huia's associate then encouraged him to leave and they walked down the stairs.
When Te Huia was later asked to explain his behaviour, he said he recalled being at the casino and yelling at the door staff.
But he could not recall the words he used as he was 'pretty drunk' and only had a partial memory of the night's events.
'He said he was both ashamed and remorseful for his actions. He has not previously appeared before a court,' Judge Garland's ruling said.
Te Huia has been placed on restricted duties while an employment investigation is under taken.
Southern District Commander Superintendent Paul Basham, in a statement this week, said the internal investigation into the actions of Te Huia was ongoing.
'We hold our staff to a high standard and expect them to model our police values through all parts of their personal and professional lives,' Basham said.
'We hold our staff to account for their behaviour. The employment investigation process is ongoing and I expect this will be finalised in the next month.'
Basham, speaking a week ago, acknowledged it had been a bad year for some officers in the southern district.
Off-duty Invercargill police officer Ben McLean has been charged with murdering his estranged wife, Verity Ann McLean (nee Barber), and Dunedin Constable Jeremy Buis was found guilty of waging a two-year harassment campaign against a member of the public.
Another officer, from Southland, is under investigation after allegedly sending inappropriate texts to a woman who sought police help.