SALT LAKE CITY: Police in the small Utah town of Roosevelt who used pepper spray and batons on spectators performing the haka at a high school American football game, have been cleared of wrongdoing.

It was the first time the police had seen New Zealand's native Maori challenge performed and took action against the fans, including a dozen people from a single family, one aged 4.

Still frame from YouTube footage shows police confronting the Haka in October.

An investigation by the police of Roosevelt, 230 kilometres east of Salt Lake City, cleared their own officers of misconduct in the October incident and said their actions were appropriate because they feared a riot was imminent.

But the Utah branch of the American Civil Liberties Union said the police report was "anything but objective" in a letter sent this week to Duchesne County Attorney Stephen Foote.