An Auckland man says a police car ran over his leg following a car chase last month.
Mark Felts can't feel any sensation in his left leg and has been told he won't know for a year if he will walk again.
Felts is on a 24-hour curfew, confined to a motel room. He's in a wheelchair after his leg was run over by a police car.
"It's been weird just sitting here in a motel room, not being able to do nothing but sit here in my misery in my pain," he says.
The injury is recovering after a nasty infection, but the 38-year-old is still waiting to hear whether he'll walk again or even have to lose the leg.
"I know I've done some dumb stuff in my life, but I don't believe that I deserve this to happen to me. To me, this is police brutality."
"Running over someone's leg is not a normal occurrence, but it was in the process of his arrest," says Inspector Dave Glossop.
Felts is facing numerous charges after he failed to stop for police during a car chase last month.
"I panicked," says Felts. "I put my foot down and took off. They put the spike strips out straight away, spiked all my tyres."
"He was in a stolen car," says Insp Glossop. "He failed to stop for a substantial amount of time until his vehicle became inoperable, basically running on the rims after being road spiked, and he carjacked other people."
Felts' escape from police ended at a carpark in Takanini, south Auckland, when he says he surrendered and lay down on the ground.
"A police officer pulled up next to me and pulled out his Taser gun and said to me, 'Get on the ground.' I put my hands out and said, 'I give up.'"
The next thing he knew a third police vehicle pulled up and ran over his left leg. Felts says he was unarmed and screaming in pain.
Footage was taken by a passing vehicle and posted on social media.
At the time of the incident, police said during the arrest the alleged offender received injuries to his ankle.
"I had one apology from the lead officer that was taking the charge who said he was sorry that this happened to me and that it shouldn't have happened at all," says Felts.
He says he's heard nothing from police since, and feels like he and his family are being left to suffer.
"I just feel like the police are just trying to turn it all to suit them so I look like the bad guy, when I'm stuck in this wheelchair for up to 12 months," says Felts.
"The act of failing to stop for police when they're telling you to stop, and driving a vehicle that has its tyres deflated by road spikes I would say is always a dangerous thing to do," says Insp Glossop.
An Independent Police Conduct Authority investigation is still ongoing, and Felts will be in court in the new year.
Newshub.
