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August 09, 2023
Police bury Kaoss Price report in rugby frenzy
Claudette Hauiti
Posted On August 9, 2023
Justice advocate Julia Whaipoti is accusing Police of being cynical in the timing of its report into the killing of Kaoss Price.
The critical incident investigation report says police officers were justified in shooting the Taranaki man in April 2022, after he rammed a police car on State Highway 3 between New Plymouth and Waitara.
The report was done by senior staff from outside the central district.
It was released at 5PM Monday, at the same time the All Blacks’ World Cup squad was named.
“It’s very cynical. I think they assumed that no one’s going to be care for someone like Kaoss and also it would be buried in the news,” Ms Whaipoti says.
She says the Price whānau have been well supported by some of the leading criminal lawyers in the country, Chris Stevenson and Julia Spellman, and they are considering whether to take further action.
The case has striking parallels with the police shooting in Waitara in 2000 of Steven Wallace, who was also 22 at the time of his death.
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