KEY POINTS:
A policeman charged with careless use of a pistol in suburban Auckland should be thanked for his actions rather than be on trial, his lawyer told a jury yesterday.
Richard Earwaker told the jury at the Auckland District Court that Constable Allan Windrum had every reason to use his pistol when he and fellow officers were trying to arrest Zeke Lowe in Remuera in June 2004.
The Crown alleges Windrum fired a Glock pistol at Lowe, a P addict police were treating as armed and dangerous, while Lowe was inside a Toyota struggling with Windrum's colleague, Constable David Mayes.
Mr Earwaker is arguing that his client's use of the weapon was reasonable, and that Mr Mayes was not in the Toyota when the pistol was fired.
"It was a calculated risk acting on all the information that was available to him," he said when summing up the case yesterday.
He said Windrum had pointed his pistol at Lowe from beside the driver's door and tried to arrest him and then Lowe had reversed the car with the door open to knock Windrum over.
When Windrum got up he saw Lowe's peroxided blond hair through the rear mirror and, fearful that Lowe would get away and be a serious threat to fellow officers and Remuera residents, tried to shoot him, Mr Earwaker said.
He did not fire a second shot as trained to because the rear windscreen shattered and he could not see Lowe.
He then went towards the front, pepper-sprayed Lowe and later helped Mr Mayes and fellow constable Lisa Magnusson arrest him.
An independent witness agreed that there was no one else in the car with Lowe when Windrum fired.
Mr Earwaker said police had been told to regard Lowe as armed and dangerous and possibly irrational, because of his methamphetamine addiction and that all options other than lethal force had gone when he chose to shoot at Lowe.
Windrum had been carrying out his duty as best he saw fit to try to stop a dangerous criminal, for which the public should be thankful.
Crown Prosecutor Chris Morris said there were inconsistencies in Windrum's statement to police when interviewed about the incident.
Mr Morris said Mr Mayes had got into the Toyota and placed Lowe in a headlock before the car moved back and struck Windrum.
It was clear Mr Mayes was in the car when Windrum decided to shoot, and if that was the case he should never have pulled the trigger.
"There was no possible need, no justification for the use of that level of force."
The jury of six men and six women is expected to retire today.
