KEY POINTS:
A jury in the Tauranga District Court has watched graphic CCTV footage of the alleged assault by four police officers on Whakatane man Rawiri Falwasser.
Sergeant Keith Derek Parsons, Sergeant Erle Busby, Senior Constable Bruce Gordon Laing and Constable John Edward Mills, who are facing various charges, say Mr Falwasser had to be restrained because he refused to be photographed and fingerprinted.
The CCTV footage, which captures eight hours of real time but has been condensed into just under three hours, starts at 12.41 on October 23 2006, and shows police trying to coax Mr Falwasser into the cell.
For the next hour, Mr Falwasser is pacing around the cell and uniformed police and other people are seen trying to talk to him through a Perspex wall on the cell.
About 2.30pm three police officers come into the room outside his cell and one of them pepper sprays him through the open sliding door of the cell. He holds up his arms in defence but continues being pepper sprayed.
There are now four police officers in the room. Another of officers lunges at Mr Falwasser with what appears to be a baton. By this time there are seven police in the room.
They then close the door to the cell.
Then three of them leave. Mr Falwasser is holding his hands over his eyes and this continues for several minutes with police coming back and forth into the room outside his cell.
At 2.37pm, an officer comes into the room outside his cell holding a baton, and between 2.38 and 2.53 police continue pepper spraying Mr Falwasser sporadically through vents in his cell wall.
Earlier, IT specialist Russell Orr, who installed the surveillance equipment, today told the court there was no attempt to make the cameras secret.
The four defendants have been on bail since their first appearance in December 2006 and been suspended from their jobs since the criminal charges were laid.
The charges relate to an incident in October 2006 when Mr Falwasser was reportedly taken into custody for unlawfully taking a motor vehicle.
In his opening statement yesterday, Crown prosecutor Fletcher Pilditch said that by law police officers were "entitled to use reasonable force".
"But that's not a blank cheque," he said.
"That's not use any force you like and how much force you like."
He said Mr Falwasser had experienced "what could be described as a deterioration of his mental health" when he took his neighbour's car in full view of the person.
Witnesses reported seeing Mr Falwasser driving erratically to Edgecumbe, about 20km away.
Mr Falwasser was found by police later in the day and was taken back to Whakatane police station for processing. It is there the assault is alleged to have happened.
The Crown alleges Parsons, who has a 25-year police service record, pepper-sprayed Mr Falwasser in the face two or three times after the latter refused to be fingerprinted or photographed.
Busby then allegedly struck Mr Falwasser from behind on the hand and wrist with separate blows as he put his hands up to protect his face.
As Mr Falwasser made movements towards the door, Busby allegedly struck him on the head, causing bleeding.
Mr Pilditch said that over the next 10 minutes Mr Falwasser remained in the cell, which was shrouded in pepper spray, making it "intolerable for police officers".
Later, Laing and Mills continued to pepper-spray Mr Falwasser's cell as he remained there, squirting the spray through vents over a 10- to 15-minute period.
"The Crown says the assaults were not justified in law," said Mr Pilditch
"It's a sad reality that the police have to use force - no one likes it, they probably don't like it."
Parsons faces two charges of assault using a blunt instrument (a baton) and one of using OC (pepper) spray as a weapon.
Busby faces four counts of assault with a blunt instrument (a baton).
Laing and Mills are both charged with assault using OC spray as a weapon.
The case is expected to take several weeks and jurors will be taken to Whakatane this week to inspect the scene of the alleged prolonged attack.
The jury will continue watching the video on four flat screen TV's after lunch.
