Footage that shows police dropping Alo Ngata’s unresponsive body face down in a cell can finally be revealed.
The 29-year-old was put in a spit hood after being arrested for randomly assaulting an elderly man in central Auckland in 2018.
During an intense struggle with police he was tasered, pepper sprayed, and restrained.
Since his death, New Zealand Police has maintained that Ngata continued to act violently while in custody. But the CCTV vision released today shows Ngata was barely moving when taken out of a police van.
Ngata’s mother, Alofa, has been calling for the release of the footage in the hope it will help prevent the death of others in custody.
“[The footage] needs to be seen. I’ve got to bring out what genuinely happened, not just as evidence, but something for everyone to be careful of. And hopefully there’s some systems in place that avoid happening again,” she said.
Agitated and aggressive
Ngata was suffering a psychotic episode while on methamphetamine and was extremely agitated and aggressive at the time of his arrest.
By the time he was carried to his cell, Ngata was likely unconscious and did not react when dropped on the floor.
The footage was released by Coroner Matthew Bates after a request from TVNZ to make public the footage from the Auckland Custody Unit where Ngata was taken on July 1, 2018.
Ngata had a heart attack in police custody. He was declared brain dead in hospital and died three days later.
Bates released his findings last week in relation to Ngata’s death.
He said he had “considerable doubt regarding the degree to which Alo was said to be resisting” after his arrest.
The police custody supervisor gave evidence at the Coronial Inquest that Ngata was “assaultive, muttering incoherent noises, and was difficult to deal with”.
However, the coroner said the CCTV footage gives the impression that Ngata is semi-conscious and unresponsive while being carried to his cell.
“Contrary to this impression, the officers carrying Alo report that he continued to struggle with them and was difficult to hold,” the coroner said.
Footage shows Ngata carried to a cell
In the footage, Ngata was seen being taken out of a van and carried to his cell by a number of officers. The spit hood was positioned incorrectly, covering his whole face.
“From the moment Alo was removed from the van, officers failed to recognise the spit hood was positioned too high and had the potential to restrict his breathing,” said Bates.
The footage then shows Ngata being dropped face first before being dragged into his cell.
He made no attempt to brace when he fell and had no obvious reaction to landing, leading the coroner to conclude that Ngata was in a state of “severely reduced consciousness”.
“Police policy categorises this as a state of medical emergency requiring hospitalisation. Police did not recognise this.”
Six police officers spent about seven minutes in the cell with Ngata removing taser prongs from his clothing. At no point did officers lift the spit hood to check his condition and he remained face down for most of this process.
Police then exit the cell and leave Ngata alone. He does not move from the position he is left in, face down with his hands still behind his back, despite being uncuffed.
His chest rises several times before he stops breathing.
About one minute and nine seconds later, an officer watching CCTV realises Ngata has not moved and raises the alarm.
Officers are seen shining a flashlight into his cell and kicked his foot to get a reaction. When there is none, they decide to go in.
By the time the officers fully re-entered, Ngata had been alone for three to four minutes.
When the spit hood was removed, a patch of blood can be seen in the hood in the region of his mouth and nose.
The family’s lawyer, Marie Dyhrberg KC, told TVNZ that police descriptions of Ngata continuing to be aggressive in custody “was not consistent with the independent evidence that we saw at the inquest”.
Bates said if Ngata had been “constantly and vigilantly monitored as policy required”, officers may have noticed he was suffering from a medical emergency sooner.
Police’s actions were first called into question in a Sunday investigation which found officers went against their own policy by fitting a spit hood incorrectly, leaving Ngata in a prone position, and failing to monitor him continuously.
That same year, the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) released a report stating that Ngata was likely unresponsive when he arrived at the cell, and that “police failed to fulfil their duty of care to Alo Ngata”.
Family welcomes footage release
Ngata’s mother, Alofa, today welcomed the release of the footage.
“The coroner mentioned they didn’t really take good care of Alo. They didn’t follow procedure,” she said.
Alofa Ngata said she can finally start to move past the ordeal.
“It’s been six years, long years, of waiting for a result that we can put this to a rest and a closure.”
The coroner has recommended using the circumstances of Ngata’s apprehension and death in future police training as a “valuable education tool”. He also recommended further training in relation to the use of spit hoods.
