Campground shooting ‘justified’

Police were justified in shooting a man one officer described as ‘‘absolutely pinging on meth’’ at the Vinegar Hill campground, after he aimed his gun at two officers.

The Independent Police Conduct Authority yesterday released its report into the December 2017 shooting, which came about after a domestic dispute between the shot man and his partner.

The man was seen driving erratically around Vinegar Hill Camp Ground, on State Highway 54 north of Feilding, threatening his partner with a sawn-off shotgun and trying to get her in the car.

Police were called, with four local officers, including a dog handler, meeting a kilometre away to plan their response.

With the armed offenders squad still 60 kilometres away, the four local officers initially planned to stay put.

But the man became even more erratic when he saw them, prompting the officers to challenge him. The man entered a campervan several campers were hiding inside and held a gun to the head of one of the occupants, demanding he drive towards police.

He drove only a short distance before he and a woman, who had remained in the campervan after everyone else fled, opened the doors and ran.

The man then slid into the driver’s seat and aimed the gun at one officer, then the dog handler, out the driver’s window.

The first officer shot the man in the arm, then the others went to arrest him.

He struggled violently against being restrained and was bitten twice by a police dog before being handcuffed. He was given first aid afterwards.

Authority chairman Judge Colin Doherty found police were right to arm themselves.

The man told the authority he threw the gun out the campervan window before he was shot, but all four officers said he dropped it afterward.

Furthermore, none of the civilians saw the gun go out the window, leading Doherty to find the man’s account not credible.

The officer who shot the man told the authority he thought lives were in danger when the man pointed the gun.

‘‘[I] yelled out . . . and he didn’t drop the gun and I thought: ‘F..., now what?’’’ he told the authority. ‘‘’Cause the last thing you want to do is frickin’ shoot someone, but I didn’t really have any option.’’

Doherty agreed, saying the officer fired to defend the dog handler.

He also found it was right for the dog handler to use his dog while arresting the man.

The handler said he did not know if the man still had a gun and he actively resisted arrest.

‘‘I couldn’t believe how much he kept fighting,’’ he told the authority. In my career I’ve had a few tussles with some methdriven people and they’re just on another planet, and I just put it down [to] that this guy’s absolutely pinging on meth, so pain’s not an issue.’’

‘‘I couldn’t believe how much he kept fighting.’’ Authority chairman Judge Colin Doherty