Police shooting of Whangarei drug addict justified - IPCA

Members of the AOS at the scene before the fatal shooting. Photo / Northern Advocate

A police officer was justified in fatally shooting an armed drug addict in Whangarei in 2008 as he could not have protected himself with anything less than armed force, the Independent Police Conduct Authority has found in a report released today.

Lee Jane Mettam, 37, was shot dead by a member of the Armed Offenders Squad (AOS) on October 23 in the doorway of a Vodafone shop in Whangarei, having taken a shop assistant hostage.

When she was shot, Ms Mettam had her .177 calibre air rifle aimed at the officer, called Officer A in the report.

Officer A was justified in shooting Ms Mettam "in light of the immediate threat of death or grievous bodily harm to himself and others, and he could not have reasonably protected himself or others in a less violent manner in the circumstances", authority chairman Justice Lowell Goddard said in the report.

"The force he used in those circumstances was not excessive."

Other options, such as a police dog or Taser, were either not available or possible.

There were some minor breaches of police communications protocols, but they did not amount to misconduct or neglect of duty and did not affect the outcome, the authority found.

When she died, Ms Mettam was addicted to heroin and LSD, was on a methadone programme and was a user of cannabis and methamphetamine as well as the prescription drug Rivotril.

She had been a heavy drug user since the age of 14, and had had previous run-ins with police, including threatening to kill and unlawful discharge of a firearm, the authority said.

About 9.30am on the day she was shot, Ms Mettam went to the shop to get money from an employee there that she knew, following previous demands for money, and having assaulted and threatened his daughter the day before.

When she found the man was not at work, because of the threats, Ms Mettam aimed her rifle at staff, demanding money and phones and taking a staff member hostage.

Through the window, the police officer saw Ms Mettam holding the man hostage, behaving erratically and at one stage pointing the gun at him.

About half an hour later, three AOS members appealed to Ms Mettam to put down her weapon when she appeared at the door.

"Ms Mettam raised the rifle and swung it towards Officer A, who was approximately 34 metres away. Officer A believed she was holding a high-powered rifle and was going to shoot him. He fired a single shot at her," Justice Goddard said.

Police and members of the public believed Ms Mettam was going to shoot the officer.

The Auckland chief pathologist found that Ms Mettam could not have survived her injuries.

A court-ordered psychiatric report in 2002 had found she was not suffering from mental illness, and she did not appear to be mentally ill when she died.

Blood and urine tests found traces of cannabis, a component of Rivotril and alcohol.

Officer A had been in the police since 1996, and a member of the AOS for more than eight years.

- NZPA