Police look to design new cushion after restrained man's death

Police look to design new cushion after restrained man's death

From Checkpoint by RNZ

May 8, 2026 · 4 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the design of a new head cushion by police following the death of a restrained man in custody.

Police are looking to design a bespoke head cushion with a local manufacturer after a man who was restrained in a chair inside police cells died. An Auckland Coroner has heard how Jaye Taueli forcefully thrashed his head back and forth repeatedly while tied down in the chair. He lost consciousness, and died in hospital from a ruptured malformed vessel in his brain, a day after his arrest. Reporter Lucy Xia was at the inquest.

People in this episode

Host: Lucy Xia

Topics covered

  • police
  • inquest
  • restraint
  • death
  • healthcare
  • design

Keywords

  • police
  • cushion
  • restraint
  • death
  • inquest
  • Auckland
  • Jaye Taueli

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Auckland Coroner

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