But it has also said it does not recommend a prosecution of the officer who fired the fatal shot.
The report says: “We found that the fatal shot was excessive force on the balance of probabilities, but we do not recommend police lay criminal charges or commence an employment process against the officer.
“While excessive use of force constitutes serious misconduct under the Police Code of Conduct, in the circumstances of this case, we do not recommend police commence an employment process.”
The IPCA report said that the officer who fired the fatal shot was justified in arming himself but could have used a taser in the final confrontation. Price was also tasered and bitten by a police dog.
It’s a finding which Price’s family have described as conflicting, saying it’s a relief to know the shooting was unjustified but they cannot understand why there are no consequences.
Family of Price question IPCA finding
Margaret Kennard, Price’s grandmother, said the finding appeared to set different laws for police than for the public.
“So what am I supposed to think? IPCA said police weren’t justified in killing my boy, but nobody is being held accountable for gunning down an unarmed 22-year-old. Kaoss is dead. If it had been anybody else, not from the police, who killed him, they’d be in court for this. Why are the police allowed to kill?”
Price was shot and killed in April 2022 by a police officer three metres away while inside a vehicle he was trying to take in order to escape from police. The shooting was almost immediately followed by another officer using a taser on Price, who was unarmed when he was killed.
The IPCA has carried out 42 investigations into fatal police shootings since 1990. A review of records shows Price’s death is the second time it has been ruled a fatal shooting to be not justified. The first such finding was the death of Tangaru Noere Turia in 2021 in Auckland.
Kennard said her grandson was no “angel” but didn’t deserve to die in the way he did.
“We’re supposed to trust the police to uphold and enforce the law. They are not above it. We give them guns. They are killing our kids. The police investigated themselves and found they did nothing wrong. Now the IPCA says killing Kaoss was unjustified.
“It feels like if you’re not a cop you have to live in a world of laws, but the police get to live in another. Kaoss wasn’t an angel but he didn’t deserve to die like this. The police need to bloody well do something.”
Price was a father of three, survived by his children, his younger sister and brother, his parents Jules Hana and Leigh Price, Kennard and a wider whānau still grieving over his death.
Jules Hana, mother of Kaoss Price, at her home in Bell Block, New Plymouth. Photo / Mike Scott
Price’s mum Jules Hana said there had been hope there would be justice for his death.
“It’s still hard, every day,” she said.
Lawyers call for police oversight reform
Annabel Creswell, vice president of the Criminal Bar Association, said the track record of the IPCA was “alarming”.
“It is a myth that police violence is not an issue of concern in New Zealand – in fact, we have nine times the rate of death by police use of force compared to similar jurisdictions in the UK and Ireland.
“It is no surprise the IPCA rarely addresses these serious issues, given the structure is deliberately focused on protecting police, the process is not transparent, and the authority only has enough resources to deal with around 4% of cases.”
Creswell said the bar association wanted to see “a transparent well-resourced and truly independent authority to deal with police misconduct”.
Price was shot and killed by police in 2022 on State Highway 3 between New Plymouth and Waitara.
The IPCA report revealed Price had been tasered as well as shot. Use of a Taser – particularly prolonged use – can cause flesh to burn as can gunshots at close range. This appears to answer questions by loved ones who dressed his body for his funeral, finding what appeared to be two entry wounds, suggesting he had been shot twice.
The IPCA findings said Price was known to police as a patched Nomad gang member with more than 30 convictions for offences including theft, car conversion, assault, burglary and driving offences.
There were alerts in the police database warning that Price had carried knives and firearms and had previously escaped custody. Price had been released from prison in March 2022 and was believed to have started criminal offending shortly after.
In the month between his release and death, police received information he had a firearm and was suspected of having stolen a ute and not stopped in driving incidents involving a BMW.
Just days before the shooting, the officers involved in the incident had tracked a BMW linked to Price and found four firearms inside it − including a loaded shotgun. Police in the district were warned Price was believed to have access to firearms.
Price was then linked to a Volkswagen known to be used by gang-connected people. He was also subject to a complaint of having stolen a car and punched the driver in the face.
The day Kaoss Price was killed
On the day of the shooting, the two police officers teamed up as a “Tactical Dog Team” and decided to carry pistols in their holsters specifically because of the threat posed by Price, one officer told the IPCA. The IPCA said this was a justified decision.
At about 9.30pm, the IPCA described the officers as waiting in a layby for a reported drunk driver when they saw the Volkswagen with which Price and other gang members had been linked. Officer A noted the other car – a white BMW – as also having gang links.
When the police dog van pulled out behind the vehicles, the Volkswagen turned its lights off and accelerated past the BMW. The Volkswagen was then seen illuminated in the BMW headlights a kilometre down the road at which point it pulled out between the dog van and the other vehicle.
Inside the police cordon on State Highway 3 the morning after Kaoss Price, 22, was shot and killed showing the Volkswagen and the police car it struck.
Price then fled and police decided against pursuit, instead pulling over the BMW. As Officer B got out to speak to the BMW driver, Officer A saw the Volkswagen hurtling towards them at around 150km/h and called out “he’s coming back!”. The warning spurred Officer B to return to the dog van.
Price swerved past the dog van at the last second with the officers reporting it shuddering. He then turned around and headed back to the police officers with Officer A telling the communications centre “… it’s just going back and past, trying to hit us now”.
The IPCA was told by Officer A the pair were fearful and believed Price was “hunting” them. Its report said: “Officer A genuinely believed that Mr Price intended to ram the dog van, putting both officers at high risk of serious or fatal injuries.”
As Price drove by and struck the police vehicle, Officer A fired two shots at the Volkswagen both of which hit.
The officers then heard the Volkswagen gears grinding and watched Price abandon the vehicle, rolling out the front through the driver’s window. They said he did so “awkwardly”, as if “potentially trying to conceal something that was on him”.
Price was warned to stop and show his hands but reached back inside the car prompting concern he had a weapon. He then ran up the highway, away from police. Again, police said he ran awkwardly as if carrying something and headed towards vehicles stopped by the incident.
Officer A, still in the dog van, then fired two or three shots − a total of five shots were fired up to this point. The IPCA found this was justified as an attempt to stop Price from hijacking a vehicle and endangering the occupants.
Price ran 145 metres along the road before trying to take a Mitsubishi driven by a motorist, called Mr R by the IPCA. At this stage, Officer B was running along the roadside, calling for help from police communications and calling: “Stop, armed police!” He told the IPCA he could see Price was not carrying a weapon but did not know if he had one concealed.
State Highway 3 near Devon Rd where police gather evidence from the place where Kaoss Price was killed in April 2022.
Officer A holstered his pistol and released the police dog from the van then began heading along the highway towards Price. By now, Price had given up on the Mitsubishi and was running again, trying other cars’ handles. Officer A could see Price was nursing one arm but couldn’t see if he was armed.
‘I’ll give you $500 to keep driving'
Price had reached a blue Hyundai Lantra station wagon and told the occupant, called Mr V by the IPCA, “bro, it’s Kaoss, I’ll give you $500 bucks if you keep driving”.
Price then forced his way into the car through the driver’s window, pushing Mr V to the centre console and then began wrestling for control of the vehicle.
Mr V told the IPCA “he was basically sitting on my lap and trying to take over the driver’s seat … but I was doing everything in my power to stop that from happening”. The car lurched forward a few feet then stopped as Mr V shoved the gear stick into park as Price gunned the accelerator.
The pursuing police officers were approaching the car, Officer A saying the engine was roaring “like the highest a car could rev”. He told the IPCA he believed Price was taking control of it and would use it as a weapon.
He again unholstered his pistol and shouted: “Armed police, stop, take your foot off the accelerator!” The IPCA reported his concern that he couldn’t see Price’s right arm and “I feared he was about to use a weapon to inflict serious harm to me”.
Officer A ruled out a Taser, telling the IPCA he didn’t think there was time to do so if Price was armed. He also was concerned muscle contractions from the electric convulsion could have forced Price’s foot on to the accelerator, and uneasy about using it as the fugitive fought with the driver.
The IPCA said Officer A believed he had “one opportunity to stop Mr Price and could not afford to take a non-lethal option for fear it would be ineffective”.
From three metres away, he fired a shot into Price’s chest.
The IPCA said Officer A “must have known” the risk of Price holding a firearm at this point to be “remote”. He had seen Price place both hands on the car and had not presented a firearm to police during the foot pursuit.
A memorial at the point Kaoss Price's car stopped and he attempted to escape police. Photo / Mike Scott
Rather, the IPCA said, the risk to the officers and the occupants of the car if Price had gained control was “much more serious”.
However, the use of the pistol created an “unacceptably high” risk the occupants of the car could have been injured or killed.
The shot was fired in poor light while Price sat partly atop Mr V, fighting for control of a car that was lurching. It was also unclear if there was anyone in the backseat.
The IPCA found the bullet, fired into Price’s chest at a 45-degree angle, left his body through his left shoulder, hit the rear door and “bounced across the back seat”.
In this instance, the IPCA said a Taser should have been used − an assessment Officer A disputed. The IPCA said Officer A’s high level of confidence in shooting Price without collateral damage made it seem “implausible” there was not similar confidence he could hit him with a Taser.
IPCA – no likely conviction of officer
The finding was made on the “balance of probabilities” rather than beyond reasonable doubt as a criminal trial would require. The IPCA said in that setting there would be “no reasonable prospect of convicting Officer A of culpable homicide, and we do not recommend police lay any charges”.
Lawyers Christopher Stevenson KC and Julia Spelman are acting for Price’s whānau. They said it appeared to be only the second time the IPCA had found a police shooting to be unjustified. The fatal shooting of Tangaru Noere Turia in 2021 was ruled not justified by the IPCA. In both cases, it recommended no further action.
At the time Price was killed, police had fatally shot 39 people since 1990. The number now stands at 46.
Leigh Price (left), the father of Kaoss Price (right), pictured with a fresh tattoo inked not long before he died. Leigh Price tattooed KP22 in memory of his son and the year he died. Photo / Mike Scott
The rate of shootings outstripped those in England and Wales, where 77 people had been killed by police shootings over the same period. Adjusting for population differences, New Zealand police fatally shoot people 11 times more often than those in England and Wales.
A data analysis by RNZ the month before Price was killed found the IPCA had carried out investigations into 35 of the 39 people killed, discovering six were not holding a weapon when shot and 14 did not have a firearm.
In 25 of 35 fatal shootings, the person killed had caused no injury to anyone before being shot. In eight cases, only property was damaged. Of the 35 fatally shot, 10 were shot in the back or had at least one bullet wound in the back.
David Fisher is based in Northland and has worked as a journalist for 35 years, winning multiple journalism awards including being twice named Reporter of the Year and being selected as one of a small number of Wolfson Press Fellows to Wolfson College, Cambridge. He first joined the Herald in 2004.
