Officer justified in shooting man

killing or very seriously injuring me’’.

‘‘I could see the blade of a knife in his hand as he ran at me. We locked eyes as he ran towards me with the knife . . . [He] appeared focused and was locked on me like nothing else mattered to him but getting to me . . . I knew that if he was able to contact me with the knife he held in his hand that he could very well kill me. I feared for my life.’’

The report, released yesterday, said ‘officer A’ left his keys in the ignition and the engine running as he got out of the car. He drew his Glock pistol and repeatedly told the man to drop his knife. However, the man continued to come towards him, so the officer fired a shot which hit the man’s arm.

He later told investigators he did not remember exactly where he aimed, but his training was to fire at the centre mass of a target.

A witness said the offender was running around ‘‘manic as, with a knife . . . trying to go the officer with it’’.

After he was shot, the man got into the patrol car’s driver seat, revved the engine, and tried to get the car into gear. The officer presented his Glock pistol at the man through the closed window and told him to get out and onto the ground. The man complied. He was arrested and received medical treatment.

The authority found the officer’s use of force was justified because he genuinely believed the offender would seriously injure or kill him and fired the shot to defend himself.

‘‘The officer was in a situation where he had to quickly get out of the patrol car to defend himself, when faced with a knife-wielding offender,’’ authority chair Judge Colin Doherty said. ‘‘The offender repeatedly ignored his instructions to drop the knife and continued coming towards the officer.

‘‘The officer subsequently fired a shot in self-defence, which was reasonable in the circumstances. When the man got into the patrol car, the officer was aware of the risks, and acted swiftly to stop him from accessing the firearm lock box and driving off.’’

The officer was responding to a call about a man who threatened a woman and her daughter with a knife outside Springlands School, and then stole their car on July 28 last year.

He and another officer decided to arm themselves with pistols before leaving the Blenheim police station, which was allowed if they believed there was a risk of death or grievous bodily harm, the report said.

From the initial call to police to arrest, the callout spanned about 15 minutes, the report said.

Jarred Gavin Makarinni Heaney, 28, admitted charges of aggravated robbery, failing to stop, dangerous driving and assault with a weapon at the Blenheim District Court in October. He was sentenced to two years and 11 months imprisonment in January.