KEY POINTS:
A policeman has gone on trial after firing his gun in a swoop on a man subject to a three-month hunt.
Constable Allan Windrum is charged with one count of carelessly using a Glock pistol while trying to arrest fugitive Zeke Lowe two years ago.
The Auckland officer was knocked to the ground as Lowe - believed to be using methamphetamine and considered to be armed and dangerous - tried to escape in a car. Windrum fired a shot that went through the rear window of the car.
No one was hit or injured and Lowe was eventually pepper-sprayed and then arrested with the help of two other officers.
After the incident, Windrum told his superiors he had acted in self-defence. But during the opening of his trial at the Auckland District Court yesterday, Crown prosecutor Emma Priest told the jury the policeman was reckless.
"The Crown says he should not have fired his gun at all."
The court heard how Windrum was a constable with the Special Tactics Unit and was staking out a hotel in Remuera where Lowe was staying on June 16, 2004.
The suspect, who had been on the run for nearly three months, was believed to be using methamphetamine and in possession of a rifle that had been stolen in a burglary a month earlier.
During the stakeout, police became suspicious of a car as it left the hotel and pulled it over. The female driver got out, but Lowe, who was hiding in the back, climbed into the driver's seat and tried to get the car moving.
Ms Priest said Windrum approached the open driver's door and pointed his gun at Lowe, telling him he was under arrest.
Another policeman got into the passenger seat and tried to put Lowe into a headlock to prevent him from driving away.
As they struggled, the car moved back and forward, hitting two other cars, and knocking Windrum to the ground. As the constable fell, his gun accidentally went off but no one was injured.
Ms Priest said the officer got up but was knocked down for a second time. When he stood up again, he fired a shot through the back window of the car.
At the station, Lowe reported the shooting to his supervisor, saying the first shot was an accidental discharge caused when he was knocked over. The second shot was self-defence.
It was also to prevent Lowe from getting away as he was dangerous and could place other police or members of the public at risk if he escaped.
Windrum's lawyer, Richard Earwaker, told the jury that some of the facts - such as whether the second officer was actually in the car at the time of the shooting - were a matter of dispute.
The fact that the gun was fired was not challenged. The question for the jury would be whether Windrum, who attended court in his uniform, was actually reckless in pulling the trigger.
The trial, before Judge Michael Lance QC, is expected to last seven days.
