Report condemns police attack

Kihi Falwasser says her son Rawiri has been waiting for this report so he can move on. Photo / Alan Gibson.

Rawiri Falwasser's first ordeal was an unprovoked assault by four police officers, who emptied five cans of pepper-spray on him.

Since then, his life has become even harder - he battled cancer and is now being forced out of a family home of three generations to make way for a toll road.

Yesterday brought him a rare moment of good news. The Independent Police Conduct Authority released its findings into a 2006 incident at a Whakatane police cell that gave Mr Falwasser, then 26, a psychotic fit and left a 6cm cut on his scalp.

The report said the force four policemen used had been "unnecessary, unreasonable, and unjustified".

But the police response to the incident, including prosecutions against the officers, had been appropriate, it said.

Two of the officers, Keith Parsons and Bruce Laing, have left the police force.

The two others continue to serve: Erle Busby in Greerton, Tauranga; and John Mills in Thames. Both men were on leave yesterday.

All four were acquitted at a jury trial in 2008 but a High Court ruling in a civil case this year and the IPCA report have since condemned their actions.

"If I had the bucks I would take them round the [legal] merry-go-round, but what's the point? We're not the Government; we don't have bottomless pockets," said Mr Falwasser's mother, Kihi.

"It's just a sigh of relief that this has been released because it's been such a long time. Things just went on and on and it was all hanging around him. It's tested our patience right throughout."

On October 23, 2006, just past noon, Mr Falwasser was arrested on suspicion of stealing a car. He was put in a clear cell where he refused to have his fingerprints taken or to sign that he had been told his rights.

An officer opened the cell door and, after a warning, pepper-sprayed Mr Falwasser.

The officer said Mr Falwasser was coming at him "in an aggressive way", but the IPCA looked at CCTV footage and found no signs of aggression before Mr Falwasser was sprayed.

The violence escalated during the next 20 minutes. Officers drew batons and dispersed whole cans of pepper-spray through the cell's air vents as Mr Falwasser fought back.

He was left battered and bleeding from the head, and gasped for air while repeating phrases in what a psychiatrist at the scene called a "psychotic episode".

A doctor arrived but had trouble tending to Mr Falwasser because the air in the cell was saturated with pepper-spray.

"The worst thing was the shock when we picked up Rawiri," Mrs Falwasser said.

"When I saw his head and his body I just wanted him out of there, and in order to get him out he had to be given sleeping tablets. I just wanted him home."

IPCA chairman Justice Lowell Goddard, QC, said Mr Falwasser should have been left in his holding cell until he had calmed down and agreed to provide fingerprints.

Mr Falwasser's father, Charles, spoke to Whakatane police three days later and a police investigation into the officers' conduct began soon after.

In 2008, the officers appeared in court for assault charges, where a jury acquitted them.

"The thing that didn't help was the policemen didn't take the stand. It would have given the jury a better picture, in my personal opinion. I think it would have shown the jury what they were really about," Mrs Falwasser said.

Publicity from the trial brought forward a few people from Whakatane's community who said they had also been bullied by a couple of the officers, she said.

"They called us to support us and say, 'Thank you for speaking out. We didn't have the guts to. I'm glad you brought it out. When it happened to us at the time we were too ashamed to speak out."'

Since the trial, Mr Falwasser has had a cancer operation and has visibly lost a lot of weight.

He worked as a bar manager in Whangarei for some time, but he went out only occasionally, reluctant to draw attention.

At his house outside Tauranga yesterday, Mr Falwasser, now 29, greeted the Weekend Herald but directed questions to his mother.

"Now he's almost over it. He's been waiting for this occasion because this is the last thing," Mrs Falwasser said.

"Those policemen have to live with it, with what they've done. We will get on better than they will."

But the family have recently been served an eviction notice under the Public Works Act to make room for the $455 million Tauranga Eastern Link.

They have fought to keep the old family home for 12 years, but have only about a month left in it.

Mr Falwasser plans to treat the IPCA report - and the demolition of his house - as a chance to make a new beginning, but has yet to decide where he wants to end up.

Police declined to comment yesterday.

THE VERDICTS

* October 2006: Rawiri Falwasser batoned and pepper-sprayed by four police officers over seven hours.

* June 2008: Jury acquits officers of assault charges.

* March 2010: Falwasser receives $30,000 compensation in civil case. Judge condemns officers' actions.

* August 2010: Independent Police Conduct Authority also condemns police actions as "unnecessary, unreasonable and unjustified".