Compo fight for man caught in crossfire

Richard Neville feels hurt that the cop who shot him won't 'man up' and apologise. Photo / Janna Dixon

A father of two is suing police for gross negligence and mental trauma after he was caught up in a bungled shootout on Auckland's northwestern motorway.

Richard Neville was one of two people caught in the crossfire as police marksmen aimed for Stephen Hohepa McDonald in January 2009.

McDonald had been on a crime rampage, stealing cars, driving recklessly and shooting at the police helicopter and at police pursuing him.

Two Armed Offenders Squad officers aimed a total of four shots at him. One struck teenage courier driver Halatau Naitoko, who died. Another hit Neville, who said he was left with about 200 lead and copper fragments in his left arm and upper chest.

Neville, 42, said he felt he had no choice but to take a civil case against the police. Papers will be lodged in the High Court at Auckland next month by barrister Nicholas Taylor, a specialist in firearms law, who will seek compensation for his client.

Taylor said Neville was also considering laying criminal charges against the officer who harmed him. He will push for the officers involved to publicly take the stand for the first time and account for their actions.

A spokesman for Police Minister Judith Collins said it was inappropriate to comment if there was pending legal action. Police National Headquarters would not comment while matters were before a coroner.

Neville said the injuries had impacted heavily on his quality of life, but what hurt most was that the cop who harmed him would not "man up" and apologise.

"I feel like collateral damage," the father of two young sons said. "It makes me feel like I have no value or worth and what happened to me didn't matter."

Two months ago, former police superintendent Neville Matthews criticised police over the pursuit during an inquest into Naitoko's death. The lawyer acting for Naitoko's family, Colin Pidgeon QC, has indicated they are likely to sue police for compensation. The inquest has finished but the coroner has reserved his findings.

Neville said a police inspector visited him after the incident and told him he was "lucky" to be alive. But it was a struggle to live his old life.

He said the bullet caused blood clots in his ears - "It was like my head was inside a drum that was being hit by a sledgehammer" - and he has an $8600 hearing aid in each ear, paid for by ACC.

He remembers "running for my life" to the side of the motorway and collapsing in shock. He said a police officer picked him up by "the scruff of the neck" and yelled "you're in the evidence area" before realising he was a victim.

He has trouble sleeping, his arm is too damaged for him to return to his career as an artist and blacksmith and he's consulted psychologists over the trauma.

He wears a compression bandage to help with the pain, but he worries about the poisoning of the metal still stuck in his arm.

"The hand surgeon said I look like a banana cake, full of black seeds."

The pieces were too close to nerves to retrieve.

He has had to move from his West Auckland home "to avoid hearing sirens" and cannot return to his loves of mountaineering or kayaking.