Kaoss Price

2022 - 4 - 22

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Image courtesy of "New Zealand Herald"

'He's only a kid': Friend of Kaoss Price says shooting was unjustified (New Zealand Herald)

The 22-year-old was shot dead on State Highway 3 after a run-in with officers.

The police declined to be interviewed. I'll be meeting with the whānau over the next few days." The police statement does not say how many rounds were fired at Price nor how many hit him. He turned around, and driving at speed narrowly missed the stationary police car. She said witnesses she and Price's whānau had spoken to said there was a gunshot heard before Price was seen running away injured, and he was shot after this, raising the possibility he was shot on two separate occasions. Particularly in our community, because there's just one too many incidents." "Really to manage the communication and the processes that are happening now with the investigation, and for the whānau ... who are grieving the loss of their loved one. "Why such a drastic measure? "Absolutely, police should wear body cameras for their protection and for the public transparency, and the use of dogs. Police say he then got out of the car and attempted to commandeer a number of vehicles from members of the public who had stopped. He's only a kid. It was only late yesterday afternoon that the police revealed Price did not have a gun, but was trying to hijack vehicles after ramming a police car with his car.

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Image courtesy of "Stuff.co.nz"

Kaoss Price: Always a bigger picture than a simple 'bad guy' narrative (Stuff.co.nz)

Deena Coster is a Stuff reporter and occasional opinion writer based in Taranaki. OPINION: It's easy to paint Kaoss Price as the bad guy.

For a significant sector our of community, police aren’t seen as a reliable force of good. They are just as likely to be a force to run from. Stuff's local newsroom wrote more than 2000 stories in the past 12 months. Early intervention is often a determining factor in the successful rehabilitation of young offenders. Māori are overrepresented in almost any measure of inequality you care to think of. The ongoing mistreatment of our indigenous people should be a source of national shame, and it would be naive to think members of our police force are immune from the consequences of New Zealand’s colonial legacy. In Taranaki, and no doubt the rest of the country too, this can be seen and heard by how many people are comfortable accepting Price’s death as an appropriate solution to a problem in society, rather than a tragic failing of one of our young people. In my world, police remain the people I call when help is needed, but I know, through the years I have worked alongside the vulnerable and disadvantaged in other roles, this is not a universal view. We expect a lot of our police force and I have no doubt officers serve to make a positive difference in their communities. Since the colonisation of tangata whenua began with the arrival of the British to Aotearoa, the economic and social standing of Māori quickly deteriorated as they were dispossessed of all but a fraction of their land and mana. The “us and them” mentality between the Pakeha majority and the Māori minority is alive and well, and it's a division we all contribute to every day in the way we talk about others, or pass judgement on their actions. The exact details regarding Price’s death are being closely guarded by police due to their ongoing investigation, but the broader context which put a young Māori man on a path that ended in tragedy is in plain sight.

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Image courtesy of "waateanews.com"

Kaoss Price shooting exposes police culture gap (waateanews.com)

Māori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer says any investigation into the police killing of a Taranaki man this week needs to look at whether there are ...

There should be change within the police that they have been trying to do but the culture of it, particularly when dealing with situations like now, are really poor,” she says. What we do know, though, is there are systemic issues. She says the story about the shooting of Kaoss Price has been drip-fed by police and keeps changing.

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Image courtesy of "RNZ"

Police accused of insensitivity over Kaoss Price's death (RNZ)

A lawyer representing the whanau of a Taranaki man shot and killed by police says their statements about the incident are insensitive.

So it's an assessment you make at the time." Getting into a car and coming back at them or are they going to be a threat to others when then drive away at speed? "What the officer then has to make is an assessment of if the person getting into another car ... is it still a threat? "Be it tasers, be it pepper sprays, be it police dogs and even in a situation like this just potentially identifying someone and defusing the situation by going and collecting him in a day or so." "You know the whānau need to bury [him] need to grieve and at the same time the police statement seems more a reaction to the public response and not made with whanau in mind." "And that level of detail that the police have put it that public release while whānau are waiting to bury their boy.

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