GRAPHIC WARNING. The footage may be distressing for some viewers. Court evidence released to the media shows police officers using a taser on a man.

GRAPHIC WARNING. The footage may be distressing for some viewers.

Graphic footage showing Gregory McPeake being hit by police Tasers in the final moments of his life has been released following a court order.

Stuff and other media organisations applied to the court for the footage after the trial of four police officers in the Napier District Court in 2016.

SUPPLIED Gregory McPeake, who died after being arrested in Napier on March 13, 2015.

The application was opposed by the Crown, lawyers for the officers, and McPeake's parents. It was supported by his daughter.

Judge Philip Cooper has rejected the objections, and found there were no grounds for withholding the footage. In allowing it to be released, he stressed it must be put in context.

The graphic footage shows the morbidly obese McPeake in the driver's seat of his parked car as officers fire two Tasers at him. Tasers were deployed after pepper spray and a prolonged period of voice appeals were ineffective.

CHARLOTTE CURD/ FAIRFAX NZ Bianca McPeake gave evidence as a Crown witness in the prosecution of police officers.

The footage, shot from cameras in the Tasers, records only the final few minutes of the incident, and ends before McPeake is removed from the car. He died shortly after being arrested.

It was stressed during the trial that there was no link between the actions of police and McPeake's death. He weighed 179kg, had a serious heart condition and had taken a potentially lethal quantity of codeine.

"Having presided over the trial, I can say that it is incontrovertible that the officers acted in good faith, and any suggestion otherwise would be highly actionable," the judge said.

Ross Giblin Gregory McPeake was shot twice with an X2 Taser.

OFFICERS ACQUITTED

A jury took less than an hour and a half to acquit the officers.

The officers had interim name suppression throughout the trial. Their lawyers argued for permanent name suppression, but Judge Cooper found only one had grounds for it.

JOHN COWPLAND/ FAIRFAX NZ Police found McPeake at the wheel of his two-door Honda SUV parked in a car park at Westshore, Napier.

Those who could be identified were constables Rochelle Bryant and Alexander Simister, and Senior Constable Andrew Knox.

They were accused of assaulting McPeake, 53, in the early hours of March 13 last year.

The Crown claimed the officers used excessive force in making the arrest. The defence argued they acted appropriately given the information they had at the time.

STUFF The Taser footage has been released on the orders of Judge Phillip Cooper, who oversaw the trial of four police officers at Napier District Court.

The jury heard seven days of evidence. Witnesses included McPeake's father Ray, 77, who spoke of how his son violently assaulted him with a weapon hours before he was arrested.

He said he and wife Barbara had not seen their son for years and they believed he was psychologically damaged. He said McPeake had driven from his home in Taranaki, and had made a spontaneous visit to reconcile with his parents about 6pm on March 12.

The assault occurred after their discussion turned sour. McPeake hit his dad around the head with a baton-like weapon. Barbara suffered a few blows when she hit her son across the head with a telephone in a bid to save her husband.

DAVID UNWIN/ FAIRFAX NZ The Crown, which was represented at trial by prosecutor Ben Vanderkolk, opposed the release of the Taser footage.

The jury heard from McPeake's daughter Bianca, who said he was a chronic alcoholic who had told her several times that if he ever became really ill he would kill his parents and brother, then drive somewhere near water, take an overdose and die.

FEAR OF CROSSBOW

It was Bianca who confirmed something police had heard from McPeake's parents – that he had once owned a crossbow. This was critical information and shaped much of what happened when police found McPeake at the wheel of his two-door Honda SUV in an unlit car park on the beach edge at Westshore, Napier, at 12.50am.

McPeake's enormous frame could be seen in the driver's seat, his hand moving up and down putting something to his mouth. Multiple voice appeals failed to get a response, so three officers approached the car from one side and three on the other.

Their big fear was that he might start the car and get away, and that he might have the crossbow.

McPeake sat smoking a cigarette, refusing to budge. His car windows were smashed and pepper spray thrown in, but this had no effect.

Bryant gave McPeake several warnings before firing the weapon at him on the driver's side. It failed to conduct a current.

Simister fired his Taser from the passenger's side. It only briefly disabled McPeake before he pulled out the barbs.

Knox and the other officer released their dogs, neither aware that the other had done so. The dogs got a bite or two in, but McPeake managed to subdue them. Around this time another officer managed to get the keys out.

Finally, McPeake was manhandled out of the car and arrested. The officers tried to resuscitate him but could not.

FOOTAGE MAY IMPACT POLICE

The Crown's view, presented by prosecutor Ben Vanderkolk, was that McPeake never presented a threat that warranted the use of force involving dogs or Tasers, and the officers should have negotiated with him further.

Judge Cooper acknowledged McPeake's parents' strong view that the footage should not be released, and his daughter Bianca's view that it should be released.

The Crown submitted that public interest was outweighed by "very high privacy interests". It was also concerned that the officers still had to face the Independent Police Conduct Authority and employment inquiries, and the footage might pre-empt findings.

The Crown also submitted that the footage illustrated that Taser probes do not significantly impact on some large individuals and that the probes can be removed from the body by the subject. It also showed how a police dog could be neutralised by grabbing its muzzle with hands contaminated with pepper-spray.

If these matters became public knowledge, it might affect the operational effectiveness of Tasers and police dogs, the Crown said.

Susan Hughes QC, on behalf of the officers, said the footage wrongly led to the assumption that their actions caused McPeake's death.

CONTEXT CRITICAL

The judge said the context in which the Tasers were used must be made clear in order to provide a fair, balanced and accurate report.

"This is a case where the individual interest of those family members who oppose the release of the Taser footage must give way to the public interest," he ruled.

He could not see how the footage would unfairly pre-empt any investigation into the officers.

"I do not accept the submission that release of the Taser footage would adversely impact police operation effectiveness. The Taser footage had already been played in open court and has been reported on in the media. This includes the fact that Gregory McPeake pulled the Taser probes out," he said.

"The fact that a police dog's operational effectiveness may be compromised by being grabbed by the muzzle by someone whose hands are contaminated with pepper-spray would hardly be surprising."

He granted access with several conditions, including that all faces be pixelated.

Police Association president Chris Cahill said it was "vital to remember that the actions of the officers were fully tested in a court of law, and the decision from that trial is the most informed".

Mr McPeake died during the arrest process but not as a result of the actions of the officers, he said.

"I am therefore very concerned that the Taser footage the wider public will see captures only a few moments of a difficult, protracted and ultimately tragic night's events," Cahill said.