KEY POINTS:
A man arrested in an armed police swoop after three months on the run has so far turned down an opportunity to help convict an officer accused of opening fire on him.
Zeke Lowe was yesterday called to the Auckland District Court to give evidence for the Crown
in its prosecution of Auckland constable Allan Windrum.
The Crown says Windrum was reckless when he fired at a car Lowe had commandeered while trying to escape police.
Windrum, who had been in the force barely two years when the June 2004 incident happened, is defending the charge.
Another officer is understood to have been trying to wrestle Lowe from behind the steering wheel at the time of the shooting, but that is disputed by the defence.
The shooting shattered the car's back window.
Lowe was called to give his version of events late yesterday morning, but straightaway refused. He was held in custody over the luncheon adjournment, but his resolve was just as strong when he returned.
The reasons for his reticence were suppressed by Judge Michael Lance until the end of the trial, but he told the jury Lowe would be brought back to court today to see if his attitude had changed.
But the jury did hear evidence yesterday about police procedures when dealing with dangerous offenders, and "best practice guidelines in terms of shooting a suspect".
Inspector Peter Gibson said moves ranged from "mastoid thumb pressure" - pressing beneath the earlobes of an offender with a thumb or knuckle - to the use of lethal force.
"Distraction techniques" were often used against offenders who were resisting peacefully and involved applying "some sort of pain to another part of the body".
Using a police dog against an offender was a common "distraction technique".
Applying the "bottle-top" - handcuffing the offender by one wrist, then twisting the cuff upwards as if removing a bottle top - succeeded in causing "quite a severe amount of pain", he said.
"Empty-hand" techniques included "a closed fist, or a martial arts chop", though the use of elbows or knees was acceptable. An "arm-bar take-down" was demonstrated on a court registrar on day one of the trial.
Police were also able to employ "weapons of opportunity" when dealing with violent offenders, with such weapons including "anything that is present in order to apply the force required".
Police batons, including the side-handle baton made infamous during the 1981 Springbok Tour, were other options for offender control.
At the upper end of the scale, a carotid hold - "essentially a headlock" in which pressure is applied to the carotid arteries on both sides of the neck - was bordering on lethal force.