Tassie cop acted on ‘threat to life’

A TASMANIAN police officer who was the first to arrive at what would later be the scene of a fatal police shooting has told an inquest he thought the situation would be contained quickly through negotiation.

But he soon realised it was a fast-moving, serious and dynamic call-out and lethal force might be needed to resolve it.

“There was obviously a threat to life. It was not an option to withdraw police in the interest of public safety,” Senior Constable Nick Lomman said.

Snr Constable Lomman, who was working as Acting Sergeant on May 24, 2016, said attempts to get 48-year-old Robert McInerney to drop the knives he was throwing and waving around and talk to police had failed. He then tried to stop and arrest the knifewielding man with capsicum spray but to no avail. Snr Constable Lomman told the inquest Mr McInerney was coming at him and colleague Snr Constable Will Flynn in a “controlled stagger” when he deployed the spray.

Despite the spray being a “direct hit” to Mr McInerney’s face, the armed man sped up, lurching towards the officers with knife raised.

Snr Constable Flynn then fired four fast rounds. The armed man continued towards the officers before falling to the ground. Snr Constable Lomman left Tasmania Police not long after the shooting and returned to South Australia.

Coroner Oliver McTaggart told him she appreciated him returning to the state to give evidence.

Earlier in yesterday’s hearing, a police operational skills instructor told Ms McTaggart Tasmania Police should use the lessons learned from the fatal police-provoked incident in Burnie to build a training package consistent with the scenarios officers faced on the frontline.

Sergeant Andrew Bennett, the assistant secretary of the Police Association of Tasmania, told the court he could not criticise how the incident was handled.

“It was so dynamic and escalated so quickly,” he said.

Sgt Bennett said the response, by eight police officers, was almost “textbook”. But he said the situation could have been very different if the officers involved had not shot a pistol outside a rifle range — as is the case with some graduates.

“The more we give police training which involves multiple under-stress scenarios the less likely they are to freeze in such situations,” he said.

Mr McInerney had threatened to harm members of the public if officers did not come to his unit in Stitz St.

Paramedic Naomi Keene said Mr McInerney was still alive when she arrived at the scene and was agitated and trying to get off the bed in the ambulance.

He was taken to the North West Regional Hospital and underwent emergency surgery but he could not be saved.