Hawera officers walk free from the High Court at New Plymouth.
An employment investigation into three police officers acquitted of manslaughter after the death of Allen Ball in a Taranaki police cell is over and a coroner has ruled there will be no inquest - bringing to an end all inquiries into the incident.
Two of the officers no longer workfor New Zealand Police following Ball’s death at the Hāwera Police Station on June 1, 2019.
Probationary constable Corey Waite, constable Craig Longworth, and sergeant Sandra Shaw were all charged with manslaughter after Ball, 55, died of codeine, tramadol, and alcohol toxicity.
It was the first time serving officers faced such a charge in New Zealand for an on-duty incident. They were also subject to an Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) investigation, an employment investigation, and the death was referred to the coroner.
The trio was acquitted of the charge following a three-week High Court trial in New Plymouth in June 2021 but in December that year the IPCA found the officers failed in their duty of care to Ball.
Following the IPCA’s findings, Coroner Peter Ryan notified the secretary for the Ministry of Justice in February last year that an inquiry would not be resumed in respect of Ball’s death.
In the notification, which was provided to the Herald last week following an inquiry into the case, the coroner said he was satisfied the death had been investigated by the IPCA, and the matters required to be established under the Coroner’s Act were established in that investigation.
The 55-year-old died in a cell at the Hāwera Police Station on June 1, 2019. Photo / Supplied
“I am also satisfied that, given the circumstances of this death, nothing further would be gained by an inquiry being resumed in terms of the statutory purposes of opening an inquiry as set out in section 57 of the act,” Coroner Ryan said.
On Tuesday, Central District Police Commander Superintendent Scott Fraser confirmed the police employment investigation into the incident had also concluded.
Fraser said two of the three officers no longer worked for police and the third remained a sworn member of staff.
He did not state which officer was still employed by the agency and would not comment on when the investigation concluded.
“Police have the same privacy obligations as any other employer, and as such will not be providing further details.”
Waite’s policing career had begun only 17 weeks prior to Ball’s death while Shaw had been in the force for 15 years and Longworth for 12. All three had spent their entire careers policing the Hāwera district.
In its 37-page report on the death, the IPCA identified several failures by police custodial staff to comply with policies and procedures, including failing to take Ball to the hospital when he was found unresponsive.
The watchdog also found police failed to carry out the appropriate monitoring of Ball when he was in the cell, and officers should have been faster in calling an ambulance when they realised his condition had deteriorated.
Around 11.20pm on the evening before Ball’s death, he was arrested and taken into custody following an alleged assault.
Sandra Shaw (left), Craig Longworth and Corey Waite (right) were found not guilty of manslaughter following the death of Allen Ball. Photo / Pool
Ball, who had been drinking alcohol and had consumed tramadol and codeine, fell asleep on the journey to the police station.
While police were aware he had been drinking and had made threats to self-harm, they did not know he had consumed the prescription drugs.
Officers were unable to wake Ball when they arrived at the station and instead carried him inside on a blanket and put him in the recovery position on the floor of a cell. They believed he was a sleeping drunk, it was heard at trial.
For the remainder of the night he was unable to be roused and around 2.30am an officer discovered Ball’s condition had deteriorated.
CPR was commenced and an ambulance was called but Ball was pronounced dead at 2.53am. Experts told the trial he would have survived if the appropriate medical care was provided.
