Police refuse to release Taser goat video
Police refusing to release footage of a senior officer tasering a feral goat 13 times have conceded it is ‘‘distressing content’’.
The four-minute clip of the Taser footage of the December 2016 incident in North Otago, viewed by Stuff under strict conditions after an official information act request, shows the goat bolting into a corner of a garage, then bleating loudly as Senior Constable Carl Pederson repeatedly delivers 50,000 volts from a Taser.
Pedersen puts a rope around the goat, which struggles, before he tasers it again.
Once trussed up outside, the goat’s eyes roll into its head. It was later euthanased.
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) launched a five-month inquiry into the incident, but the inquiry ‘‘was hampered at some stages with key witnesses, some of whom were members of the NZ Police, being overseas or information from some police witnesses taking some months to obtain’’, compliance director Gary Orr said.
Pederson would not agree to be interviewed, but ‘‘ultimately agreed to answer written questions’’.
MPI’s lawyer recommended pros- ecution, but the final advice from the Crown Solicitor, given to MPI in April this year, advised against it because of ‘‘evidential weakness in the case’’. The inquiry cost $30,000.
Police investigated internally and deemed Pederson’s actions to be in good faith with the ‘‘feral goat at large creating a significant safety risks to motorists and pedestrians’’. The goat had escaped from a local abattoir, eluded council animal control officers and created a traffic hazard around Oamaru before a dog cornered it in the garage.
Police refused to release their inquiry documents, providing only a summary by Assistant Commissioner Sam Hoyle and Southern District commander Paul Basham.
The summary noted an animal control officer asked police to use a firearm on the goat, but Pederson decided that would ‘‘generate safety risks; preferring to undertake efforts to preserve the life of the animal’’. It noted Pederson did not call for back-up or form a plan of restraint with another officer.
The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) was satisfied police investigated the matter fully, and noted recommendations concerning taser policy and training.
Stuff requests for information about the incident appear to have met resistance from police national headquarters.
Police declined to release the footage on the basis they had consulted the Chief Censor and the need to protect the public due to the ‘‘distressing content’’.
Stuff sought a copy of the Chief Censor’s advice from the Office of Film Literature Classification, but a spokeswoman said it was an informal discussion between the Chief Censor and police.
No publication was submitted for classification, she said.
Police offered to send Stuff an ‘‘excerpt of the video footage’’, but it did not arrive.
Police instead sent three photos from the Taser footage.
A police spokeswoman earlier maintained staff cooperated fully with MPI, police acknowledged some things could have been done differently, and lessons from the incident had been incorporated into updated policy and procedural guidance.
Safe animal rights campaigner Hans Kriek earlier said it was ‘‘an appalling use of a Taser’’.
‘‘To Taser it once seems dubious, but to Taser it 13 times seems ridiculous . . . and it begs the question, why were no animal cruelty charges laid?’’