Shargin Stephens was shot dead by a police officer in July 2016. Photo: RNZ/Vinay Ranchhod
Police tactics in the fatal shooting of Shargin Stephens showed a disregard for the right to life, according to a scathing coroner’s report.
A probationary officer in “a heightened emotional state” pushed his way past experienced officers and got “unnecessarily and dangerously close” to Stephens, who was holding a slasher after smashing up a police car, and shot him twice with an M4 rifle.
Coroner Michael Robb ruled the death, in July 2016, was preventable and his 207-page report painted a picture of police chaos on the day, including a lack of leadership and a failure to de-escalate the situation.
The coroner said that, a decade on, it appeared police have learned little from the shooting, and the officers involved were defensive when questioned and still don’t believe they did anything wrong. Police, though, say many of the changes recommended by Robb have already been implemented.
It’s a long article but basically an ex-military, inexperienced Police officer pushed through the line of more senior Police, murdered the guy, then lied constantly about what happened afterwards.
The officer has permanent name suppression, and I couldn’t see anything saying they are no longer in the force. The coroner didn’t go as far as to say they should face prosecution because it’s reasonable they might have felt their own life was in danger, but it seems they unnecessarily put themselves in this position.
It’s a super scathing report on Police and their disregard for life, and the bail check stuff is fucked up.
@Dave , I don’t think it’s fair to paint all of ‘police’ in the same one brush stroke.
While it is a more male oriented organization with often all the shortcomings of some lesser advanced members of that gender, a generalisation might be convenient but is unfair to all those doing the right thing.The report paints Police in this way. For example:
He said L05’s actions reflected his limited experience and “a level of panic”, but also revealed the police attitude to the use of lethal force.
“It further highlights my concern that the current New Zealand police risk assessment encourages a justification approach, whereby being able to articulate a possible anticipated risk can be relied on to then justify a lethal force action.”
It’s clear in this case there was a junior police officer that made a lot of bad calls, but the article points out the coroners report highlights many failings of Police as a whole in their approach.
I’m not saying individual officers are all like this one junior officer. But Police, as an organisation, are not doing enough to train and support officers in taking the right approaches.
