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The police fired 10 shots at a man who had hit an officer with his car and threatened his wife with a shotgun.
The Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) found that the police were justified in shooting Donald Melville Ineson to protect the public and other police officers, but his wife says his actions were “excessive” .
However, the IPCA found that the shooting was not justified for the purpose of preventing Ineson’s escape.
Ineson, 56, died on November 25, 2018, after being shot by police on Bangor Rd, Darfield.
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His wife, Joanne Ineson, called 111 after he pointed a shotgun at her during an argument.
She told the caller that her husband “pulled the shotgun out and pointed it at me.”
He was outside, and she had locked herself and her two sons, ages 11 and 13, in the house.
She told the person who got the call that she thought her husband was going to shoot himself, then she heard two shots and said, “My God, he already did.”
Joseph Johnson / Stuff
Emergency services were called to Donald Ineson’s home after he threatened his wife with a rifle.
He later realized that he was trying to open the front door and had not tripped. She yelled at him to “wait for the police.”
She told the person who received the call that her husband had gone out of line during the argument, but that it hurt because he had undergone back surgery six weeks earlier. S
Then he thought he was shooting at the front door and hid with his children in the bathroom.
It was later revealed that her husband had actually used an ax to get in and get her car keys. Unknown to her and the police, she had also stored her shotgun in the gun locker.
Two local officers armed themselves with pistols and rifles and went to Donald Ineson’s home.
They saw that Ineson was about to drive off in her car and ordered her to stop. Ineson sped out of her driveway, hitting one of the officers.
Officer A recalled that Ineson was deliberately pointing the car at him.
“It was clear that [he] he wasn’t going to stop … I didn’t feel justified at this point to shoot him, but I was happy to shoot his tires to try and disable his vehicle, preventing his escape and reducing his speed on the highway.
The officer saw Ineson drive directly toward him.
“I remember being confused at the time because I felt like I had positioned myself in a way that would make it impossible for him to attack me.”
Joanne Ineson was still locked in the bathroom and on the phone with police when the officer was struck outside. She later told police and the IPCA that she heard her husband yell “get off the road” while his car was still in the driveway. He did not hear the officers give any warning.
The IPCA found that Ineson’s actions were “clearly reckless,” but it was unlikely that she intentionally hit Officer A with her car.
The two officers fired 10 shots at Ineson as she walked away. They approached his car once more officers arrived about 18 minutes later and found him dead in the driver’s seat.
JOSEPH JOHNSON / THINGS
Canterbury District Commander Superintendent John Price says police are still establishing the detailed sequence of events that led to Donald Ineson’s death (first published November 2018).
An examination of the scene found that six bullets had struck the rear of Ineson’s car and a bullet fragment had struck the upper left back, causing a fatal injury to the chest.
“In the minds of the officers, Mr. Ineson was volatile and dangerous, and potentially suicidal. They feared that it would deliberately hit another vehicle, potentially killing or seriously injuring any occupant, ”said Judge Colin Doherty, president of the IPCA.
“They also believed that Mr. Ineson could still have the shotgun with him and were concerned that he would use it against other police officers in his efforts to escape.”
The authority considered that the probability of these risks occurring was low and that shooting at Ineson to prevent her escape was not justified.
However, he found that officers actually believed that he posed an imminent and deadly threat to other road users and the police, so the shooting was justified in that context.
In a previous interview, Joanne Ineson said Stuff she believed her husband would pull the trigger.
“I really thought I would, I was terrified.”
In a statement Tuesday, she said the family was “relieved” that the IPCA confirmed that her husband did not have time to react and that he did not deliberately hit the police officer.
However, she believed that the subsequent actions of the officers at the scene, which led to the death of her husband, were “excessive.”
She questioned whether the injuries sustained by the officer hit by her husband’s car meant that he was “in a physical and mental condition to make objective decisions.”
“My husband will be remembered by his family, friends and coworkers as a good man.”
