Report on officer's road spike death released

High visibility jackets should be mandatory for police officers laying road spikes, a coroner says in his findings following an inquest into the death of Sergeant Derek Wootton.

Mr Wootton, 52, died on July 11, 2008, when struck by a stolen Honda Prelude car in Porirua as he was trying to lay road spikes.

Driver Andrew Popo later pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was jailed for eight years and nine months.

Coroner Ian Smith today released his findings from an inquest in May, ruling that Mr Wootton suffered fatal head, chest and abdominal injuries when hit.

During the inquest, the court was told Mr Wootton was not wearing a reflectorised safety jacket when he went to lay the spikes, most likely because he only had a matter of seconds to act.

Although it was not known if a jacket would have changed the outcome for Mr Wootton, reports from the Department of Labour and the Independent Police Conduct Authority both recommended police review the policy for wearing the jackets.

The Department of Labour said it appeared that the requirement for the jackets to be worn was well known, but was not adhered to by all officers, with some saying they felt making themselves more visible might make them a target.

However, Mr Smith said he did not believe there should be an option for officers not to wear them.

``If an officer cannot safely wear a jacket and have time to deploy the road spikes safely, then they should simply abandon the exercise,'' he said.

``It is akin to wearing a safety helmet on a building site; or a fireman wearing a breathing apparatus -- I could go on.''

Mr Smith said there should be no criticism of how Mr Wootton had carried out his duties.

``He did what he thought was needed and did not think about his own safety, but only the safety of others.''

Mr Smith noted the current contentious issue around police pursuits, but said it was not the court's place, on this occasion, to go into any depth dealing with it.

``Sometimes [the police] will be damned if they do and damned if they do not. They are bastions of our public welfare and protection.''

- NZPA