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A colleague of four policemen accused of assaulting a man with batons and pepper spray says the man made him nervous.
Rawiri Falwasser alleges he was assaulted by Sergeants Keith Parson and Erle Busby, Senior Constable Bruce Laing and Constable John Mills at the Whakatane police station on Labour Day 2006.
Yesterday, the first of nine police officers testifying for the Crown gave evidence in the Tauranga District Court.
Constable Peter Redman said Mr Falwasser was "extremely agitated" and possibly on drugs, and he and Laing felt nervous of him. Mr Falwasser, who was 20 at the time, had been arrested for car theft and refused to be photographed or fingerprinted.
The Crown claims he was suffering a psychotic episode and the police officers used excessive and unreasonable force while detaining him in a holding cell.
The four have denied the charges.
Mr Redman was on traffic duties and went to help Laing, who had found Mr Falwasser and the stolen car.
"My first impression of him was that he was spaced out, maybe on P, or he may have been mentally disturbed," he said. "I got the impression he could lash out. I felt pretty insecure myself."
After they drove Mr Falwasser to the police station, Mr Redman helped to coax him into the holding cell, but left before the alleged assault took place.
The incident was captured on a surveillance camera and the film was played to the jury on Tuesday.
It showed an officer hitting Mr Falwasser over the head with a baton and Mr Falwasser later mopping up blood from the cell floor with his sweatshirt. It also showed police repeatedly squirting pepper spray in his face and through vents in the perspex wall of the cell.
The trial is expected to last three weeks. Mr Falwasser is expected to give evidence today.
