Death blamed on mistakes in police raid
CONSTABLE Bill Crews was “a good bloke and a good cop” who was fatally shot by a colleague during a botched raid because of a series of systemic problems in the NSW police force that have since been reformed.
The 26-year-old constable was accidentally shot in the neck by a fellow police officer during a 2010 raid in the basement carpark of a western Sydney unit block.
His colleague was returning fire at small-time drug dealer Philip Nguyen, who was high on heroin or ice on the night of September 8, and had opened fire after mistaking the plain-clothed officers for robbers.
When handing down his findings yesterday, NSW State Coroner Michael Barnes said Constable Crews was a “team player ... a good bloke and a good cop”.
“They were doing what they had sworn to do – protect the public – and sadly, one of them died doing it.”
The inquest may now be closed, but five years on, the death of the young recruit is still raw. Outside the NSW Coroners Court, Constable Crews’ father Kelvin and his family struggled to contain their emotion.
“It’s been a very hard five years,” Mr Crews said.
The inquest comes two years after Nguyen was jailed for Crews’ manslaughter. The inquest could not proceed until the criminal charges had been dealt with and appeals resolved.
Mr Barnes said Constable Crews died because of errors and inadequacies in the execution of search warrants.