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The police officers feared for their lives and worried that they would have to shoot a criminal, who was shooting at them during a night chase in Whangārei.
Jefferey Cassidy, 23, previously admitted to shooting police twice during the September 2 chase, which caused downtown residents to cower on their properties.
In Whangārei District Court on Monday, Judge John McDonald sentenced Cassidy to seven years in prison and disqualified him from driving for 12 months.
Denise Piper / Things
Jefferey Cassidy admitted to shooting at police while trying to escape a chase in Whangārei.
The judge said the impacts on the three officers who were shot were enormous, including one officer who passed through the police school with Officer Matthew Hunt, the officer who was shot dead in Auckland on June 19.
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“In no way should the effects on the victims be minimized because they are members of the New Zealand police,” Judge McDonald told Cassidy, also known as Cassidy-Adams.
Another officer whose car was hit, the police dog handler, Sheriff Peter Kinane, feared he would have to shoot Cassidy to make her stop.
New Zealand Police
Officer Matthew Hunt was shot and killed in the line of duty on June 19 and was fired at Eden Park on July 9. His death was on the mind of one of the officers Cassidy shot.
“He was really worried that he might have to point his firearm at him and kill him,” the judge said.
The fact that Cassidy had no real reason to desperately get away from the police, with no drugs and no body in the car, made the shooting even more of a mystery to Kinane.
Judge McDonald said Cassidy’s sentencing needed to deter others from shooting at police, and for this to happen on a more regular basis in Northland.
On December 11, they allegedly shot at the police while investigating a kidnapping and assault. On December 1, a criminal shot a police dog and then the police shot him three times, allegedly also shooting at the police during a morning chase on November 17.
Police also continue to search for criminals who randomly shot a lone officer, damaging his windshield, in Puketona Junction, near Kerikeri, on October 27. The incident is believed to be related to a kidnapping in the area the night before.
NZ POLICE / Supplied
Two men reportedly got out and began firing at a police car on October 27 near Kerikeri, breaking its windshield.
The offender appeared through the window to aim
The court heard Cassidy drank about 27 cans of seven percent alcohol mixes while driving through Whangārei on September 2.
Two officers in a marked car searched him speeding around 11:30 pm, who chased after him with their red and blue lights on.
Along Kamo Rd, Cassidy fired her sawed-off .303 rifle at the car, prompting the unarmed officers to abandon the chase.
But other policemen picked up his vehicle and continued to chase him as he drove through the central business area, through Onerahi and vice versa.
At Riverside Dr, Cassidy’s car had a flat, causing the car’s tires to slowly go flat.
Sheriff Peter Kinane said he twice saw Cassidy lean out of his car window, point and shoot while chasing him about 100 feet behind.
“The driver came out of the driver’s window, pushed himself out, took aim, pulled the trigger. There was a big muzzle blast coming out of the barrel, it was kind of shocking, ”Kinane said.
Cassidy denied deliberately shooting at police, despite hitting the Kinane lighthouse, instead saying that she fired warning shots to get police off her back, holding the gun in one hand without looking.
But, in a controversial factual hearing in Whangārei District Court on Monday, Judge McDonald ruled that it would not have been possible to fire the sawed-off .303 rifle multiple times with one hand.
Kinane said Cassidy tried to shoot him two more times, both in the same way, but the gun jammed and he couldn’t get it to work again.
The chase ended when Cassidy’s car was damaged by the police attack and the car stopped near Otaika Road. He was arrested without further incident.
A second man was also arrested, but denies the charges against him.
The full list of charges against Cassidy are driving with excessive alcohol on the breath, failing to stop, dangerous driving, and using a firearm twice against police.
