An armed policemen involved in the fatal shooting of an innocent courier driver last year has told an inquest he feared for his own life.
The officer, who can only be identified as Officer A81, told an Auckland Coroner's Court hearing earlier this week into the death of teenager Halatau Naitoko that he confronted gunman Stephen Hohepa McDonald on Auckland's north western motorway in January last year.
McDonald had led police on a chase through west Auckland, into town and on to the motorway, firing at his pursuers.
The chase ended when McDonald stopped on the motorway. A white truck and a white courier van driven by Naitoko, also stopped.
During the final confrontation police shot at McDonald but one police bullet hit Mr Naitoko, 17, in the chest and he died as he was being given first aid in the back of his courier van.
The officer was one of two officers, whose names are suppressed, to give evidence behind closed doors before coroner Gordon Matenga on Monday.
A transcript of his evidence was released today. The second officer's evidence is yet to be released.
In his evidence the constable said McDonald had shown he was not about to surrender "due to the length of the pursuit and the shots being fired".
"He was, therefore, a threat and had shown a desire to escape."
On the motorway, McDonald looked like he was trying to stop and comandeer a vehicle.
"I was also thinking of the potential of a hostage situation and did not want that to happen," Officer A81 said.
"I made a decision to go after him to prevent him escaping in another vehicle, any hostage situation, or him escaping into the bush on the other side of the motorway.
"He was clearly a very real danger to the public and the police. He needed to be apprehended without delay."
The officer said McDonald approached a moving white flatbed truck and tried to open the door. The truck slowed and stopped.
"I could clearly see him holding the firearm at that point, and I yelled 'Stop, armed police'."
McDonald did not open the door or respond to his shouted challenge. He climbed on to the tray of the truck.
The officer said no traffic was behind the truck and he did not want to shoot at McDonald if he was shooting in the direction of oncoming traffic.
"He started to raise the gun in my direction and I thought he was going to shoot me. I brought my rifle up from the ready position it had been in, taking the safety off as I did so, and I fired one shot.
"At the point that the offender raised his gun and pointed at me, I thought he was going to shoot me and I feared for my life.
"I believed that I had a clear field of fire and the purpose of the shot was to incapacitate the offender.
"After I shot, the offender went down immediately on the deck of the truck, lying face down with the top of his head toward me.
"I yelled, 'Don't f***ing move.'
"He remained stationary and I yelled the same words again as I moved forward after taking my finger off the trigger. He did not move."
The officer said he moved towards the deck of the truck and flicked McDonald's gun towards the back of the tray of the truck.
Once McDonald had been handcuffed he checked the truck cab and found no one inside.
The commander of the armed offenders squad arrived and asked who had fired.
" We identified ourselves. This was the first time I was aware that anyone else in the squad had also fired."
Yesterday AOS dog handler Karl Pennington told the inquest as he approached the gunman with his Glock pistol drawn, he looked into the face of Mr Naitoko and he was petrified.
He then heard four shots.
Officer A81 was asked by Todd Simmons, who appears for him, whether he was aware what was in the background behind McDonald when he fired at him.
"At that stage I was focused on the offender and the threat that he posed immediately to me. I do not recall anything being behind it."
Under questioning by Colin Pidgeon, who appeared for the Naitoko family, the officer said three people were shot.
Mr Naitoko was killed, a truck driver was wounded, and McDonald was wounded. He was not sure if it was his shot or another shot which wounded McDonald.
The inquest is expected to finish by the end of the week.
