A lawyer for one of four Hawke's Bay police officers on trial for assaulting a man who later died says the officers had a duty to their community to make the arrest.
The four officers, who all have name suppression, are on trial in the Napier District Court accused of assaulting Gregory McPeake with Tasers and police dogs in March last year.
All four officers deny the charges against them. There is no suggestion their actions contributed to his death, as he was morbidly obese and had a heart condition.
Mr McPeake, 53, died in the early hours of March 13 last year after a standoff with police in the Napier suburb of Westshore.
Earlier in the night he had seriously assaulted his 76-year-old father Raymond with a club-like weapon.
When police found Mr McPeake he refused to get out of his car. The officers smashed out the windows of his vehicle with bolt cutters and then Tasered him.
Later they set two police dogs on him, one from either side of his vehicle.
Mr McPeake eventually fell out the car door and became "very unresponsive".
First aid was administered immediately by police and paramedics. Their efforts continued for 40 minutes, but were unsuccessful.
Susan Hughes, a lawyer representing one of the accused dog handlers, said her client had a duty to arrest Mr McPeake and stop him from hurting himself or a member of the public.
Ms Hughes said when the officers found Mr McPeake he was "already dying", having suffered a heart attack in the hours prior to his arrest and taken a cocktail of drugs including codeine, cannabis and alcohol.
She admitted it was a mistake to use two police dogs on Mr McPeake, and the officers removed the dogs once they realised both were in the car.
Ms Hughes asked the jury to remember the officers were acting in the moment and on the information at hand.
Lawyer Jonathan Krebs, representing another of the officers, criticised Crown prosecutor Ben Vanderkolk for downplaying the "very real threat" of a crossbow. It was never found, but the officers had to take the threat seriously until it was, or the car was cleared.
Mr Krebs also said despite Mr McPeake saying he could get out of the car, he slammed the door.
In closing arguments for the Crown delivered on Wednesday morning, prosecutor Ben Vanderkolk said the officers' actions were a clear case of excessive force.
Mr Vanderkolk said the use of two dogs on Mr McPeake by two of the defendants, who are experienced dog handlers, was a mistake.
One of the senior dog handlers was "impatient" and had a "dismissive" approach to being briefed on the situation prior to the arrest, Mr Vanderkolk said.
The Crown has also replayed Taser camera footage of the incident. It shows three minutes of the more than 20 minute exchange.
Mr Vanderkolk highlighted a clip where Mr McPeake says "I will" in response to a command to get out of the car.
Mr Vanderkolk said the video showed one of the officers was acting with "indifference" towards Mr McPeake by not giving a warning prior to firing his Taser.
"He just fired," said Mr Vanderkolk.
On the basis of the video there was no judgement displayed at all, said Mr Vanderkolk.
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