Coroner finds police acted appropriately in fatal Dakabin shooting of Damon Savage
A coroner who investigated the death of a knife-wielding man who was shot by police, where he walked towards them yelling “f--k, you f--kin ATSI c--t”, has revealed his findings.
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A coroner has found police had no option but to use lethal force when they shot dead a knife-wielding man after a interaction of under two minutes in which he walked towards them yelling, “F--k, you f--kin’ ATSI c--t”.
Damon Paul William Savage was 27 when he was shot seven times on his front lawn in Dakabin after police attended the property following reports he had attacked his girlfriend with a knife, seriously injuring her in August 2020.
A two-day inquest was held in Brisbane Coroners Court in August last year. It heard Savage, who was recovering from dependence on the drug ice and had a long mental health history, called triple-0, telling them he was armed with a knife at 12.05am screaming “get cars here c--t”.
His partner, who he had injured with a knife, was taken into the home of an off-duty officer who was on the phone to police when Savage used a large kitchen knife in each hand to stab the crim safe doors. He eventually ran back into his home.
Upon arrival police could see he was armed with two large kitchen knives, and told him to put his weapons down, in which he threw one at a wheelie bin, while yelling at police “I wanna die bro”.
The interaction lasted 1 minute and 51 seconds.
As a second police car arrived, Damon advanced to Acting Sergeant Stephen Waretini who deployed his taser.
It didn’t work and Damon kept approaching the officer so Constable Westerweller and Senior Constable Whitson fired eight shots between them.
Damon could not be revived.
During the inquest Chief Operational Skills Instructor and Manager of Operational Training Services Inspector Corey Allen said both Constable Westerweller and Senior Constable Whitson attempted to tactically withdraw and reposition and only used lethal force when the taser was ineffective.
“I accept the submission that Officers Whitson and Westerweller acted appropriately when they arrived at Damon’s house,” State Coroner Terry Ryan said in his findings.
“They made every attempt to de-escalate the incident after Damon came to the front door. A/Sgt Waretini placed himself at risk by attempting to use his taser before he reached for his firearm.
“I agree with the submission of Counsel Assisting that, after the taser was deployed, there were no other less than lethal force options open to the officers.”
The court obtained further information from QPS about a limited rollout of Taser 10 which has a range of 6m more than the current taser and can be discharged 10 times rather than once.
“There is no guarantee that, in the circumstances of Damon’s death, use of the Taser 10 as opposed to the Taser X26P would have been outcome changing for Damon,” Mr Ryan said.
“However, this technology may assist police officers in future similar confrontations with members of the public, in that it may provide police officers with a less than lethal use of force option which creates more time and space, and is more reliable than the current model.
“Other than noting this evidence, there are no recommendations which I usefully make which would prevent similar deaths from occurring in the future.”