Police didn’t help man in river: Judge

Fugitive swam towards boat but drowned

Police looking for a man wanted after assaulting a woman did not do enough to help him after finding him on the bank of the Waikato River. The Independent Police Conduct Authority chairman, Judge Colin Doherty, said officers “did nothing to help when it was most needed”. The man drowned while swimming towards police in their boat.

The IPCA released its findings yesterday into the death of a 36-year-old man on April 27, 2018, who fled after attacking his partner at a Montgomery Ave, Hamilton, home.

The authority found the officers were not adequately trained or experienced enough to manage a rescue operation. It found the officers on the boat were focused on earlier warnings and instructions, instead of making risk assessments and planning for possibly finding the man in the water. Judge Doherty added that when the man disappeared underwater, “a moral obligation to help him arose. Officers did nothing to help him when it was most needed.”

The man, who has not been named, had breached a protection order and had warrants out for him.

The Waikato police boat and Eagle helicopter were called to assist.

The boat was crewed by three officers, and a Fire and Emergency NZ officer joined them, operating a thermal-imaging camera to assist with night vision.

The Acting Inspector managing the search told the boat crew not to take the man on board without making a plan to do so. The crew took this to mean their role was limited to assisting the search, and did not plan to get him from the water if needed.

When the man was found on the riverbank, officers on the bank told him he was under arrest. He replied, “yeah, just pick me up”, but the boat crew said they did not hear that.

Eagle chopper footage showed him later swim towards the boat, before being pulled by the current towards the centre of the river.

A few seconds later an officer yells into the radio, “boat, move up to him now! He’s going under!” An officer put an oar into the water, described by the authority as a “futile action” as the man had already disappeared.

Assistant Commissioner Districts Lauano Sue Schwalger said police believed the man had a gun “and sadly the man drowned before police were able to intervene”.

Water-rescue training processes in Waikato had since been reviewed.