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Chinese tourist Naiju Li in hopsital - Source: ONE News -
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A Chinese tourist is filing a brutality complaint against police after she was left with a dislocated elbow and cuts to her face in an incident in Hamilton.
Fifty-six year old Naiju Li said she was in so much pain she "wished she was dead" after being arrested at a supermarket carpark.
Police have denied the claims but said they are investigating the matter.
Li, who is visiting her niece, told ONE News she was leaving the supermarket when she found that her car had gone.
"I couldn't speak any English, I went back to Countdown, I mimic the word 'car, car', trying to wave my arm to communicate to the staff working there, they couldn't really understand me," she said.
She then spotted a tow truck and approached the driver.
"I thought this might be the same company that towed my car," she said.
"Because I couldn't speak any English I went in and sat next to the passenger seat. I used my body gesture, trying to use that to say, can you take me back to the towing company so I can retrieve my car?"
It was at this stage that the police turned up, and Li returned to the supermarket after her gesturing had failed to gain a response.
"I heard a sound from behind. As soon as I was trying to turn my head I saw a police officer rushing towards me, firstly they held part of my arm, then bend them backwards, trying to bring my arm backwards.
"I screamed in pain cause it hurt."
Li said it took doctors three attempts to re-set her dislocated elbow and she needed stitches to her face after police pressed her to the ground in handcuffs.
Superintendent Win van der Velde said preliminary inquiries had indicated the officers had acted appropriately in the circumstances.
"Officers tried various means of calming the highly agitated woman which were unsuccessful and the situation unfolded within minutes," he said in a statement.
"Attempts were made to facilitate a translation when an officer gave his personal phone to the woman's brother-in-law to ring a relative fluent in English and Chinese, however this proved unsuccessful."
Van der Welde said the store manager refused to allow Li back into the building which was why she was arrested.
He said she tried to resist arrest and allegedly tried to bite one of the officers, so they pinned her down to put on the handcuffs.
"It is at this time we believe the woman suffered a cut to her left cheek when her glasses made contact with the ground and her face," he said.
"Fortunately at that time an ambulance was passing and an officer flagged down the paramedics who treated the woman's facial injury at the scene."
When Li was taken back to the station police realised she had dislocated her elbow and she was taken to Waikato Hospital for treatment.
Police were unable to comment further as the matter is before the courts and subject to an internal investigation.
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