Constable under fire

Press, 23 January 1988, Page 10

Constable under fire

PA Auckland The first Constable Andy Baker knew of being under fire was the hail of shotgun pellets around him.

“I just stood there. I didn’t realise what was happening,” he said yesterday. “I could hear pellets landing like hail all around me. Then I heard' the bang from the gun.”

Mr Baker was still standing in the doorway

of Pukekohe Police Station when a second blast rang out.

“That was when I moved. I jumped back and slammed the door. But I still wasn’t thinking straight,” he said. “I ended up kneeling on the floor to keep out of sight as I called on the police radio for help. That was about when it hit me what was going on. I was pretty frightened then.” For the young con-

stable, with only three years experience behind him, it was his second time under fire.

He was sitting in Pukekohe Police Station with other officers a year ago when a shot was fired into the station from a passing car. Before the latest attack Constable Baker had been relaxing with three other officers and two traffic officers after work when the shots were fired.

He went outside to move a police car which was blocking his own vehicle, brought the keys inside the station and then headed out the door.

Yesterday he was philosophical about the attack. "I really don’t think anyone was out to get me. They probably wanted to give the station a bit of a shake up and it was just my bad luck to walk out at that moment,” he said.