‘Don’t you dare’: Officer’s warnings before fatally shooting driver

A woman behind the wheel of an SUV that pinned a police officer to a fence was warned to “go back” 10 times before she was shot and killed.

Madeline Margaret Henry, 33, was shot dead on May 24 in South Melbourne after allegedly driving towards a senior male constable during the arrest of a man allegedly wielding a machete.

A police officer shot the driver of a car that was driving towards him during an arrest on Dow Street in South Melbourne last month.Credit: Nine News

An inquest on Monday heard preliminary evidence, mostly drawn from CCTV and body-worn camera footage, in the lead-up to the deadly shooting.

The dramatic series of events was initiated when a 39-year-old South Melbourne man was spotted at the nearby Park Towers public housing buildings allegedly carrying a machete.

Henry was visiting the 31-storey towers and left about the same time as police sighted the man and called out to him by name, the court was told.

A police divvy van gave chase after he rode off on a scooter, with a CCTV camera showing a Ford Territory driven by Henry following behind.

The suspect was grappled to the ground by a first constable, as the senior constable approached to assist after running over the scooter.

The SUV stopped on Church Street with its passenger side door open as a 26-year-old male passenger walked into Dow Street with his hands at shoulder height.

He described himself as a friend of the suspect and claimed to own the scooter.

The senior constable drew his gun and said “don’t you dare drive that car up here” as the front wheels of the car crossed the broken line at the east end of Dow Street.

“The senior constable walked east down Dow Street towards the Ford with his firearm raised in front of him, three times directing it to go back,” counsel assisting Samantha Brown told the court.

An image from police shows the officer lying on the ground after he had been hit by the SUV and shot the car’s occupants. Police have blurred the faces of the officers.Credit: Victoria Police

The second man got back inside the Ford as it continued forward, with the senior constable pointing his gun at Henry and broadcasting on radio that a car was “trying to run us over here”.

The officer stabbed the front-passenger side tyre with a blade as the SUV mounted the footpath and came to rest against the fence, pinning his left leg between it and the bumper.

“As the constable stood up he pointed his firearm and fired four times through the windscreen of the Ford,” Brown said.

“Five seconds had elapsed between the senior constable’s 10th direction to get back and the discharging of the firearm.”

Henry died at the scene, while the senior constable was hospitalised with leg injuries.

Her passenger suffered a gunshot wound and was taken to hospital, along with the 39-year-old man who was later charged.

The inquest will not make findings of guilt or innocence or apportion blame for Henry’s death.

“The focus of the coronial investigation is likely to be on identifying any precipitants to Ms Henry’s actions immediately before her death,” Brown said.

“And the reasonableness of the police use of force in response to them.”

Police and an ambulance at the scene of the shooting in South Melbourne.Credit: Nine News

Coroner John Cain expects a brief of evidence to be filed by September 22, with the inquest’s next hearing likely to be in October.

Henry’s mother watched the hearing online.

Speaking on behalf of Victoria Police’s chief commissioner, lawyer Ben Lloyd expressed his and the force’s condolences and regret at the loss of Henry’s life and promised to co-operate with the inquest.

Homicide squad detectives, with oversight from Professional Standards Command, are conducting a separate investigation, as is standard for fatal police shootings.

AAP