Man dies after arrest

A policeman models a spit hood, which is used to stop people under arrest from spitting and spreading disease.

A man has died after being tasered, restrained and placed in a spit hood by Auckland police.

He passed away on Wednesday after a violent incident in Freemans Bay on Sunday.

Police were called to reports a man was "violently assaulting" an elderly person in the central suburb's Beresford St.

Auckland City District Commander Karyn Malthus says he was "observed kicking the victim in the head several times as he lay unconscious".

She says when police arrived on scene, the man was blocking emergency services from attending to the victim.

"The officers instructed the offender to move out of the way which he refused to do and moved aggressively towards them.

"Their repeated commands were ignored and the offender lunged towards them before he was tasered multiple times."

Malthus says during the arrest, the man struggled violently, and two more officers applied restraints and a spit hood – a disposable mesh bag designed to prevent the wearer from spitting and spreading disease.

Police staff attended to the elderly victim until paramedics arrived, she says.

He was taken to hospital and remained in a serious condition on Wednesday.

"The offender was transported to the Auckland Police Custody Unit in an agitated state and continued resisting police efforts to remove restraints."

"The offender's condition began to deteriorate while in custody and police were required to perform CPR until an ambulance arrived."

The man was taken to hospital, and died on Wednesday morning, Malthus says.

Police did not believe the man and the elderly victim knew each other, she says.

Police were investigating, and the matter had also been referred to the Coroner, WorkSafe and the Independent Police Conduct Authority.

When asked why police had not notified media until Wednesday, a spokeswoman said it was because the man had only died that morning.

Residents of the street said they did not believe either the deceased man or the victim lived there, as they did not recognise either of them.

Two men said the pair came down an alleyway from the direction of the northwestern motorway before the attack began.

Two other residents said the deceased man was "a really big guy".

Beresford St is home to Freemans Park, a residential complex comprising private homes along with Housing New Zealand, Auckland Housing Association, and Community of Refuge Trust units.

It backs onto Western Park, an eight hectare public park that runs up the hill to Ponsonby.

Freemans Park building and grounds manager Eddie Paunovic said he had not heard about the assault, but said Beresford St was an area with a lot of foot traffic due to its location.

A "massive amount of thoroughfare" came through the park from Ponsonby Rd and Karangahape Rd, he says.

"There are a lot of homeless people as well. I've trespassed a lot of people from Freemans Park."

- Stuff/ MELANIE EARLEY

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