The police watchdog has condemned a Christchurch cop for delivering "strong blows" to a man's head 30 seconds after he grabbed the officer's testicle.
However, the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) has found that, overall, officers using "reasonable force" to transfer the man between cells was "justified".
The incident happened in the early hours of June 5, 2020, after a man was arrested for breaching bail and put in a holding cell at the Christchurch central police station, the IPCA said in a report released on Tuesday.
According to the report, the man was drunk, hostile and had a bleeding cut on his foot.
The man refused medical treatment and when officers tried to move him from one cell to another, he refused.
"An officer spent considerable time explaining why this was necessary and offered the man a plastic bag to protect his cut foot while he was escorted to another cell," the IPCA said.
"The officer stood in the cell doorway talking to the man, with two other officers standing behind in support. The man stood up from the bench, paced around then stood half a metre from the officer."
In its report, the IPCA said the man then asked the officers if they wanted to "start something".
"The officer in the doorway says he believed the man was about to attack him, so he stepped forward and pulled him to the ground to avoid this. Four additional officers were involved in restraining and handcuffing the man.
"During the violent struggle, the man grabbed the officer's testicles up to five times. The officer struck the man's head four times, kneed him in the back and applied force to his neck.
"We found the officer was unjustified in pulling the man to the ground for the purposes of protecting himself but was justified in doing so to remove him from the cell after a prolonged negotiation."
The IPCA also criticised the police officer for delivering "strong blows to the man's head while he was pinned to the ground" and applying "what looked like a chokehold".
However, the watchdog said the officers were "justified in using force to restrain the man while he strongly resisted. The officer's initial strikes were justifiable as a distraction to stop the man from grabbing his testicles."
"These actions were beyond what was necessary for the officer to protect himself or bring the man under control, and, in my view, were at one stage motivated by anger," IPCA chair Judge Colin Doherty said. "The man should have been seen by a doctor after receiving blows to the head and it is extremely concerning that this did not happen."
The complaint of excessive force was partially upheld by the IPCA.
In response to the watchdog's findings, Canterbury District Commander Supt John Price said the police officer "had to act quickly to protect himself" against the violent and aggressive man.
"It is always unfortunate when police find themselves in circumstances where they must resort to using force," he said in a statement.
Learnings have been taken from the incident, the statement said.
"These include better planning for a situation where an aggressive person in custody may need to be restrained before being transferred safely to another cell and the requirement for a person to receive medical treatment despite their refusal to be seen by a doctor."
