CHARGED: Four police officers will go on trial in Napier District Court tomorrow on assault charges. PHOTO FILE
CHARGED: Four police officers will go on trial in Napier District Court tomorrow on assault charges. PHOTO FILE
Four police officers will tomorrow go on trial charged with assaulting a man who died after being tasered, pepper-sprayed and bitten by a police dog in an early-morning incident near Napier's Westshore Beach.
Details of the accused, charged with assault with a weapon, had been suppressed pending the Napier DistrictCourt trial which follows the death of Taranaki man Gregory McPeake, 53, early on the morning of March 13, 2015.
After defence applications opposed by media were heard in court today, Judge Phillip Cooper ruled the occupations could be revealed but that names would remain suppressed pending verdicts at a trial expected to last up to a fortnight.
It relates to an incident about 12.30 on the Friday morning in which police came across a car containing Mr Peake who had been wanted since an incident at his parents' Hastings home during the night.
Mr McPeake's breathing deteriorated as soon as he was out of the car, and he died at the scene.
His father, 76-year-old Ray McPeake was taken to hospital after the incident in his home.
