Officer wrong to shoot at moving car and ignore order to abandon pursuit

Misconduct findings against a central West Queensland Acting Senior Constable, who fired shots at a moving car and ignored orders to abandon a police pursuit, have been confirmed.

A POLICE officer who fired four shots at a moving car, hitting the driver, and twice produced an unloaded assault rifle during a pursuit, has failed to prove it was not misconduct.

A tribunal member will now decide what sanction police officer Christopher Lee Wallis will face, after confirming two previous misconduct findings by an Acting Deputy Commissioner.

The Crime and Corruption Commission claimed a previous salary reduction, a delay in the officer’s career progression and extra training was insufficient.

In 2015, then Acting Senior Constable Wallis and another officer from Winton police found a suspect vehicle in a paddock, stuck on a fence, Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal heard.

Acting Senior Constable Christopher Lee Wallis has failed to prove his actions were not misconduct.

Wallis approached the car on foot and after the driver drove towards him he drew his firearm and fired off four shots.

The last shot went through the side rear glass window, striking the driver in the upper right arm, the tribunal heard.

Wallis told the tribunal he thought he was going to be hit and was in fear of death or grievous bodily harm when he drew his firearm and fired, which a tribunal member accepted.

The member also accepted Wallis was aiming at the rear tyres and not at the driver, whom he thought may have been reaching for a weapon before he fired.

However, the member concluded it was not reasonable or justified for Wallis to fire four shots into a moving vehicle, when it was parallel to him.

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“The QPS policy for the use of a firearm is clear and officers should not use a firearm to fire at moving vehicles. I consider that the discharge of a firearm is serious,’’ the member said.

The member said Wallis’s actions in firing four shots into a moving vehicle, knowing it was wrong, was excessive and he confirmed the police finding of misconduct.

The tribunal also heard that in 2014, outside Winton, Wallis, who was the senior officer involved in a pursuit of a suspect vehicle, ignored an order to abandon the pursuit.

Wallis had presented his unloaded assault rifle during the pursuit, holding it parallel to the suspect vehicle.

He later also produced the rifle when he approached the suspect vehicle, when it was stopped in Winton, before it drove towards him and another officer.

The member agreed with the Acting Deputy Commissioner that any member of the community confronted by an officer with an R4 rifle could feel threatened.

He found the misconduct finding was substantiated, as Wallis, as senior officer, should have told the officer driving the police car to abandon pursuit.

The tribunal member will make a decision on sanction by January 5.