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An Australian tourist says he is "disgusted" with the way he has been treated by New Zealand police after he was pepper-sprayed while handcuffed and seated in the back of a police car.
Fred Klutke, 50, who owns a post shop in northern New South Wales, says he became involved in a confrontation in an Ohakune pub on Tuesday after which he was arrested and charged with assaulting police, resisting arrest and disorderly behaviour likely to cause violence.
While Mr Klutke admits he was "reasonably drunk" at the time, he denies all charges and has made an official complaint with the Police Complaints Authority.
He has accused police of using pepper spray on him unfairly after an incident which started when a patron at the hotel accused him on two separate occasions of staring at his girlfriend.
He said an argument followed which ended in some "pushing".
Then, he said, he was restrained by bouncers who dragged him across the ground, grazing his face in the process.
The bouncers held him down until police officers arrived and handcuffed him, he said.
"They had me in handcuffs ... how could I have assaulted a police officer? I'm disgusted with the fact that he pepper-sprayed someone who was handcuffed. And then when I got back in the car he turned around from the front and pepper-sprayed me again."
Mr Klutke said he had planned to return to Australia on Sunday but was told he would have to appear in court later in September so he was not sure if he could leave the country.
The incident had put a dampener on his annual skiing holiday, he said.
"I've never been in a fight. I've skied all over the world and I've never been treated like this anywhere."
The officer in charge of Ohakune police station, Sergeant Michael Craig, confirmed a formal complaint had been made about police actions during the incident and the matter would be reviewed by the Police Complaints Authority.
Police protocol prevented officers from using pepper spray when closer than 1m to their target but there were no rules preventing officers using pepper spray on someone who was handcuffed or in a car.
