From today’s Wanganui, NZ Chronicle:
Skateboarder claims rough handling by police
11.12.2008
by Lin FergusonA young Wanganui skateboarder plans to complain to the Independent Police Conduct Authority after what he described as “rough, over-the-top treatment” at the hands of Wanganui police officers.
Daniel Blackman, an avid freeboarder (a snowboarder on wheels), was arrested and charged on November 14 with resisting arrest, disorderly behaviour and threatening behaviour after boarding down Portal St.
However, he was given diversion by Judge Michael Radford in the Wanganui District Court on Monday.
Mr Blackman, an assistant dairy farm manager in Palmerston North, is now writing a complaint to the police conduct authority because his treatment by police that night was too harsh and way out of line, he told the Wanganui Chronicle.
Around 8.15pm that Friday night, he’d sat at the top of the Portal St hill with his mate, who was going to drive as back-up behind him in his car, he said.
“We sat there until there was no traffic and we could see the road was clear all the way down.”
They set off with Mr Blackman travelling on his board about 35kph in front of the car, which had its hazard lights flashing. Halfway down, a police car coming up the hill saw them, swung around and drove down, pulling in alongside Mr Blackman on his board.
“He yelled at me to stop and kept yelling because I kept going. He wasn’t giving me any room to swivel and stop, which is what you have to do on a board.”
When he was finally able to roll into a stop at the bottom of the hill, the officer demanded to be given the board.
“I held it to my chest with both arms and told him no way was I giving him my board, because I wasn’t doing anything illegal. Boarding is legal on the roads.”
Mr Blackman admits that he enraged the officer by not handing over his board, but he wasn’t prepared for what happened next.
“He said he was going to set his dog on me, and I told him he better not try . . .”
It became a total stand-off, but he wasn’t giving in and the exchange did get “fairly heated”, he said.
“Well, then he lunged at me, got me in a choker hold and pushed me on the ground. I heard him ringing for back-up.”
By then, three patrol cars had arrived and more officers were helping to restrain him, he said.
“. . . you know, they even asked me if I was on drugs. I mean, as if when you’re riding a board at 35 kph downhill . . . no chance, ever.”
Then another three patrol cars rolled up, he said.
“There were officers everywhere. Then they pepper-sprayed me. I won’t repeat what the officer, the one with the dog, said. I made sure I shut my eyes and my mouth, but it still really burnt.”
Wanganui District Council bylaws prohibit skateboards being ridden in Victoria Ave (the CBD) only, he said.
With his complaint he was enclosing photos of his helmet covered with dents from struggling while he was held down, and pictures of the bruises across his arms and chest where he was holding on to his board.
Mr Blackman defended himself in court because he had wanted the judge to hear what he personally had to say.
“The judge was really great. He asked me what had happened, and I was able to explain it all, and he listened to me.”
Area Commander Duncan McLeod said there was nothing he could say or do until the authority had made its decision.
“It’s out of my hands. It is entirely the authority’s investigation and decision.”
Dan, let us know how it goes…
Great article. Good luck with everything!
Hope those fuckers get fired.
vid or it didnt happen.
hah, jk
good luck with the case man
Wanganui eh…
haha clinging to the board, true freeborder right there.
never let go of that bord man
Why the hell would they pepper spray him if he was already on the ground in a chokehold and 6 officers restraining him?
…
That shit is jacked up.
Fuck the police…
this is such a great story. it gets more ludicrous and hilarious with each paragraph…
seems like excessive force….how was the cop under any obligation to confiscate the bord in the first place, let alone choke and mace him for not giving it up?
omg….the freeborders name MR. BLACK-MAN, this article is so full of lolz that I call fake.
Justchilln Says:
December 11th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Fuck the police…
going abit NWA on the fuckers hey
yea boy. thats rough dude. this is what happens when people are not educated about freebord.
similar thing happened to me the other week a civilian driver decided to drive up parallel to me and box me in, then he slowly closed in on me trying to force me off the road, i was already as far to the left as i could go and couldn’t stop.
when i banged on his window he braked and i put the brakes on.
fkn pigs scew everything up
llllame. hopefully his case goes well.
“Area Commander Duncan McLeod”
That is my name! Duncan MacLeod!
cops are nuts! Imagine asking a kid on a board to stop when hes rolling down a hill? As far as most people know boards don’t have brakes so wtf did he expect him to do.
haha that’s what I was thinking Duncan
yeah for a second I had like a mental double take, but then realized it was in NZ and cimihighlander is from CO. Crazy!
wtf. cops fail.
man that just shows its al about who u deal with, i had a cop last weekend ask if i new the law and i said yes im allowed to skate and as u can see i can stop so its not aggressive driving and he said cool have a good day and left. too bad all cops in nz dont treat people like that
I guess its Wangnui(an’t the biggest town in the world) for ya, the cops an’t got anything better to do.
what the….jeez, even swiss cops are nicer.
Wanganui was the site of the New Zealand Police Law Enforcement System (LES) from 1976 to 1995. An early Sperry mainframe computer based intelligence and data management system, it was known colloquially as the “Wanganui Computer”. The data centre housing the LES was subject to New Zealand’s highest profile suicide bombing in 1982 when anarchist Neil Roberts detonated a gelignite bomb in the entry foyer. Roberts was the only casualty of the bombing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanganui
they could’ve been out there catching real criminals.
-jay was here!
I have a keen interest in the nefarious deeds of the Wanganui Police Daniel, can I have the name/names of the cops that roughed you up? Cheers Jack.
hey guys haha was a crack up dat nyte pepper spray and everything only gave up when i started blacking out. Has become bit of a legend around town ae ne ways i dont geta chance 2 go on the net much. drop me a txt 0275259597