French tourist bites officers in NZ traffic stop, seeks no conviction

A tourist pulled over by the police then tried to remove the taser from the holster of one officer during the scuffle that followed. Picture / Mark Mitchell

A Frenchman in New Zealand on a working holiday who violently fought three police officers is now trying to avoid a conviction.

Things unravelled for Ulysse Felician after he was seen doing a U-turn in front of oncoming traffic on a busy state highway near Nelson.

It ended with him being taken to the ground before he bit two police officers and then tried to remove the taser from the holster of one.

Felician, who has just turned 30, was in the country on a tourist working visa, which his lawyer said had now expired.

According to a police summary of facts, he didn’t hold a driver’s licence.

He admitted to charges in the Nelson District Court on Monday of assaulting and resisting police, failing to remain stopped, and a drugs charge after a search of his vehicle found 25.5g of dried cannabis.

On the morning of January 28 this year, Felician was driving a grey Mazda station wagon on State Highway 6 in Appleby when he was seen by police doing a U-turn in front of oncoming traffic.

Police signalled to him to stop, but Felician did another U-turn near a busy intersection and headed off in a different direction.

He stopped briefly just past the Appleby Primary School on the Moutere Highway but then drove off as the officer got out of his vehicle.

He stopped further up the road but then drove off again before he stopped a third time on Waimea West Rd, when the police removed the keys from his vehicle.

Felician became “very agitated” and lunged towards the police officer, whom he pushed and then took the keys out of the officer’s pocket.

Felician was arrested but resisted and fought violently against three officers, the summary of facts said.

During the struggle, he was taken to the ground, biting one officer on the leg in the process.

Felician then bit another officer on the shoulder as he tried to get his taser from him.

Both officers were left scratched and bruised.

He was eventually handcuffed but continued to struggle and kick out at the police until he was placed in a patrol vehicle.

After Felician’s vehicle was impounded, police found a quantity of cannabis.

He later told the police he did not remember fighting the officers involved but wanted to apologise to those he hit.

He said through an interpreter who assisted him in court that he was also able to offer a donation and asked that no conviction be entered.

He was remanded on bail to June for a sentencing hearing to determine a discharge without conviction.

Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.