Police officers killed in line of duty when routine work went wrong

FOUR police officers in the past 15 years have been blindsided and killed in seemingly routine operations.

FOUR police officers in the past 15 years have been blindsided and killed in seemingly routine operations.

In each case they faced situations they and their peers thought could easily be controlled or contained.

All of their deaths sparked an outpouring of shock and reflection. Could anything have been done to prevent the loss of life?

Senior Constable David Rixon died in Tamworth. Picture: Northern Daily Leader

Some police don’t think so, warning there is no way to mitigate the dangers of dealing with people who don’t show initial signs of violence.

Critically wounded detective John Breda’s condition in hospital has improved slightly after his shock stabbing in a Maroubra pub yesterday at the hands of offender Nick Newman but senior police warn he is still not out of danger.

“I don’t think we can say anyone is a low-risk target anymore,” one senior police official said.

William “Bill” Crews was accidentally shot by a colleague during a small-scale drug raid in Bankstown in Sydney’s southwest in September, 2010.

STABBED OFFICER REMAINS IN DANGER

The constable was caught in the crossfire when the police target, drug dealer Phillip Nguyen, a man police thought was low risk and not armed, started shooting.

Constable William Crews was caught in crossfire.

Senior Constable David Rixon was on duty alone when he pulled over a car in West Tamworth on March, 2, 2012, for a routine traffic stop.

As Rixon prepared to breathalyse the man behind the wheel, ­Michael Allen Jacobs, the drug user grabbed a .38 loaded ­revolver and opened fire.

In the same year, Inspector Bryson Anderson was killed during a violent stand-off ­involving mother and son Mitchell and Fiona Barbieri, in Oakville, in Sydney’s north west.

Detective Inspector Bryson Anderson was stabbed during a siege.

Highway Patrol officer Glenn McEnally was shot in 2002.

Inspector Anderson was stabbed twice as police prepared to storm the home.

A decade earlier, young highway patrol officer Constable Glenn McEnally was shot during a police pursuit ­involving a stolen car in southwest Sydney.

After crashing the stolen car in March, 2002, driver Sione Penisini shot Const McEnally at close range.