Pursuit 'should have been abandoned'

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Mon, 20 Dec 2010 11:31a.m.

Halatau Naitoko with his daughter

Halatau Naitoko with his daughter

By Michael Morrah and James Murray

A former police superintendent has said the pursuit of Stephen McDonald should have been abandoned at the reconvened coronial inquest into the death of Halatau Naikoto.

Mr Naikoto was shot dead by police on the north-western motorway last year after McDonald went on an armed crime spree blamed on his use of methamphetamine.

Neville Matthews wrote the report at the request of coroner Godon Matenga who reserved his findings at the end of an inquest in March.

In Mr Matthews’ view the pursuit should have been abandoned.

The inquest has been reconvened today to hear more evidence about the police response and resourcing, and whether they could have acted differently during the incident.

McDonald was sentenced to 13 years in jail for actions that led to 23 charges.

During the court case, McDonald’s lawyer argued Mr Naitoko may not have been killed if the police had been better trained.

“That pursuit had the potential of ending badly and it did,” he said.

The officer who fired the fatal shot, known as Officer 84, was praised for his bravery at the original inquest.

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Comments

20 Dec 2010 02:35p.m.

Te Rina wrote:

Dammed if they do dammed if they let the criminal get away. Lets face it whatever the police do there will be someone out there who wines and says they should have stopped they should have done this and not that. The shooting of an innocent is a tragedy for sure but who says that the P fuelled crim wouldnt have taken him out some way as well. It was a genuine accident by the police. Does the name William Bell mean anything to Kiwi's he went on a P fueled rampage and killed how many??????? The police are only doing their job. OK in this instance maybe they should have done it differently. But when you only have seconds to react to a situation sometimes things do go wrong.

20 Dec 2010 02:23p.m.

Braam wrote:

Chase them till they all die!! we don't need the P devils!!

20 Dec 2010 01:25p.m.

Bruce wrote:

Sad reality another innocent life as a result of a pursuit. I am all for the criminals killing themselves but the cost of pursuits is great and the criminals know, go fast enough and the pursuit is called off. It is getting deadly.

20 Dec 2010 12:08p.m.

Baker wrote:

NO!!! Had the pursuit been abandoned the P fuelled criminal (McDonald) would have been free to do what ever he liked and most probably would have killed someone in the state of mind he was in, not to mention he had a gun as well. What should of happened was the officer who pulled the trigger and fired the bullet that killed Halatau should not have been trying to shoot a man in a moving vehicle with so many other people around, it's pretty simple and it was a very bad mistake to try and take that shot. He should have waited until ther vehicle came to a stop or waited until there was no one else around before trying to take McDonald out. I fully agree with trying to stop a mad man who was putting lives at risk but trying to shoot someone in a moving vehicle with so many other people around was a really really dumb thing to do, even if he thought he had him lined up and wouldn't miss, because in the end he did miss and he killed an innocent man.