By LOUISA CLEAVE
An internal police investigation has found two officers acted appropriately when they dropped a drunk man on the side of a road, where he was killed 90 minutes later by a hit-and-run driver.
John Hamilton was run over 150m from where police left him at an intersection on
Pyes Pa Rd, Tauranga.
Police said the 32-year-old Taupo man asked to be taken there after he was found sleeping on a footpath in the city.
Mr Hamilton, a father of three, had been drinking at his future brother-in-law's stag party. He was staying on the other side of the city from where he was killed on February 2.
Senior Sergeant Bruce Glover of Tauranga said Mr Hamilton chatted to the two officers, a sergeant and a constable, on the journey and said "this will be great" when they stopped.
"I've interviewed the staff concerned and I'm very satisfied of their assessment of the man, and their actions," Mr Glover said. The officers told him that Mr Hamilton was lucid and "walking along fine" when they drove off.
Mr Glover said it was not unusual for police to give someone a ride home if they were not drunk enough to be taken to police cells. Sometimes they did not want to be dropped at a house because of the police car.
He released details of his investigation in response to a Herald article about the incident. The report would be written today, he said.
Mr Hamilton's widow, Jo-Ann, said she learned about the police findings on the evening television news, and does not accept the conclusion.
"There is no doubt in my mind that what those police did was wrong," she said.
Mr Glover said he had asked to sit down with Mrs Hamilton yesterday to go through the findings but she and her lawyer declined the offer and asked for written documentation.
Mrs Hamilton said she would decide whether to take further action after she had seen the report. She said police should have released the details to her before going public.
Mr Glover said his comments to the media had been approved by his district commander.
