Coroner speaks on Chase death

Press, 10 December 1983, Page 1

Coroner speaks on Chase death

PA Wellington The police decision to force their way into the home of the gang member, Paul Chase, in an attempt to arrest him was precipitate, said the Wellington Coroner, Mr A. D. McGregor, yesterday. The Coroner made his comment after hearing evidence at the inquest into the death of Mr Chase at his Petone flat on April 18 this year. He found that Mr Chase died from blood loss secondary to a gunshot wound in the abdomen, inflicted by a member of the police armed offenders squad at Mr Chase’s home in the execution of a search warrant. The policeman had shot Mr Chase in the belief that his life was in danger. The Coroner said it was

not his task to find as to the appropriateness of the police action. But, he said, in the circumstances of the case, the police decision to search and arrest at dawn was precipitate. He said that the police instead should have considered delaying their raid on Mr Chase’s home and looked to apprehending him as he went to work. Evidence at the inquest was that Mr. Chase left for work each morning about 7 a.m. wearing jeans, a Tshirt, and a jersey. He was said not to carry anything with him. Mr Chase was shot at 6.44 a.m. The Coroner said that the shooting of Mr Chase had had an extraordinary amount of publicity, which was understandable. It in-

volved a man’s being shot in his own home before dawn by policemen who had forced their way in. The police procedures had been the subject of an exhaustive report, a report admirable for its lucidity. A finding on police procedure was quite out of the scope of the reason for the inquest, he said. The Coroner said he had no intention of commenting in detail on the evidence presented to him. Briefly it was that by 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 17, the police, after intense investigation involving many witnesses, had decided to arrest Mr Chase and two other men for a “shameful incident” at the Hutt Park Hotel the previous evening.

The Coroner said the incident was serious even by present-day standards in New Zealand. It had involved the terrorising of patrons with a loaded shotgun which had eventually been fired into the ceiling, some pellets wounding by ricochet. The three men had then fled with the gun before the police had arrived. The gun was described by witnesses as having a shiny barrel. It was a sawn-off shotgun. When police inquiries were completed, “and they were very extensive,” it was decided to arrest Mr Chase. But, the Coroner said, the police had a problem. They were not certain where Mr Chase was. He said evidence was given that apart from two occasions when he was out for about an hour, Mr Chase was at his home on the Sunday. Police information suggested he could be there with one of the other men sought. After discussions between senior members of the armed offenders squad it was decided the best time to apprehend Mr Chase was at dawn. The Coroner said that the police had discussed a number of alternatives.

“I am satisfied with that decision,” he said. It was made by a competent officer “after anxious thought.”

“Whether the decision was correct is another matter.”

The Coroner said that from the evidence before him it appeared Mr Chase had gone to the door of his home and looked through a peep-hole. He had returned to the bedroom and told his wife, “The Blacks are outside.”

Then, grabbing an exercise bar, he advanced with it to the door, “a perfectly natural reaction on his part.” The armed offenders squad member who had entered the flat had considered in the dim light that he was about to be shot with the sawn-off shotgun.

The Coroner said that he was satisfied the squad member came squarely within the requirements of the police general instructions of use of a firearm when he fired at Mr Chase — that he had a reasonable apprehension of death and could not protect himself in any other way.

He was satisfied the squad member had good reasons for the belief he held and said the squad member had certainly had to make a hasty decision.

The Coroner said the tragedy was that Mr Chase had armed himself with a bar that looked like a shiny sawn-off shotgun. It was also a tragedy that he had been involved in the incident at the hotel. The Coroner said that evidence was given that Mr Chase worked at a bottling plant in Seaview. He had been at work on Friday and there was every indication he would have been at work on the Monday. He usually left for work about 7 a.m.

To apprehend Mr Chase at work or on the way to work was "surely a possible option." “I find it surprising that that was not attempted,” the Coroner said. “The evidence before me does not satisfy me that just before dawn on April 18 was the appropriate time to make this search and arrest.”

He said police operations were often fraught with danger — some required force, some “the softly, softly approach.” Many went according to plan. Some did not. They could not all be generalised. What had to be retained at all times were police standards of the highest character.

The Coroner then pronounced his formal finding.

A police inspector, identified in Court as Inspector B, gave evidence that he had organised the armed offenders squad. He said that, with other armed offenders squad senior staff, he had discussed the best method of apprehending Mr Chase. They had considered 10 options — from leaving Mr Chase to be picked up later (ruled out because the offence was serious and delays could have given time for reprisals or further violence) to using tear gas (ruled out because danger to suspects and innocent people was considered too great). Inspector B said that the planning was hindered by the fact that Mr Chase’s flat was on the second level of a block of flats in which a number of people lived. He said the police had settled on option 10 which was to knock loudly on the door of Mr Chase’s flat and, if there was no immediate response, to break down the door and enter at speed and overpower the suspects before they could start shooting.

“This option was in the circumstances considered to be the best available,” he said. “But it was not without its danger as is every operation carried out by the police going to an address to search and apprehend suspects.” To Mr M. A. Bungay, for the Chase family, Inspector B said he assumed inquiries had been made about where Mr Chase worked. He said that if it had been known to him that Mr Chase left for work at 7 a.m. that 'would have been another option open to the police which was “possibly less risky.” There would still have been risks involved.

Inspector Colin Wilson said he had been appointed second in command of the police investigation into the shooting of Mr Chase. He had interviewed the armed offenders squad member who had shot Mr Chase.

Inspector Wilson read to the Court part of the squad member’s statement. It said:

“As the door opened I called out ‘police’ in a loud voice . . . there was silence for a second or two then I heard someone running from the direction of what I

now know to be the lounge. "The person I now know to be Paul Chase suddenly appeared round the corner in the passageway. When I heard the sudden movement and before I saw him I again called 'police' in a loud voice.

“He was carrying something in both hands.

"His left hand was round one end of this thing, knuckles down towards the floor. His other hand was around the other end, knuckles upwards.

‘lt was about two feet long and I could see it was shiny at one end. "I believed that it was a sawn-off shotgun. As he came round the corner he swung his left hand towards us, bringing what'l though was the shiny end. the muzzle end, of the shotgun round to point at me and the persons behind me.

"He was about 10 feet away from me at this time. He was slightly crouched which would have put him about three-quarters his correct height if standing. “He was moving towards me still holding what I believed to be the sawn-off shotgun. At this time I shot him ... at the instant I shot him I believed that the article he held in his hands was a sawn-off shotgun and that he was bringing it round to shoot me.”

Mr Chase’s de facto wife, Denise Netta Walker, said in a statement taken on the morning of April 18 that the previous day Mr Chase’s cousin had telephoned him saying the police were coming because of an incident at the Hutt Park tavern. She said that she and Mr Chase had seen a car-load of Black Power members outside the Menkar Flats on the day before the shooting. The gang members had pointed in the direction of their flat before going to watch a game of rugby league.

Mr Chase had gone to bed about 8 p.m. that day after barricading the door with four chairs, in case the “Blacks” came round. At 6.30 a.m. on April 18, Ms Walker said she was awakened by a loud continuous knock on the door. She awoke Mr Chase. She told him there was someone at the front door. He had been sleeping in his clothes, in case he had to get up in a hurry. Mr Chase ran to the front door where she thought he looked through a peep-hole before running back saying, “The blacks are outside.”

He grabbed an exercise bar from a wardrobe, and ran back toward the front door. She said she then heard someone breaking the door in.

She did not hear anyone say anything from that point on. “There was the noise of the door coming down and almost immediately afterwards I heard a shot.” Mr Chase had said, “Girl, I have been shot.” She said she “froze” in bed.

Mr A. A. T. Ellis assisted the Coroner. Mr K. Toogood appeared for the police.