The mother of an Auckland teenager mistakenly killed by police following a high-speed chase wants them to change the system for dealing with armed offenders.
Ivoni Fuimaono was speaking at an inquest into the death of Halatau Naitoko, 17, who was caught in crossfire as Armed Offenders Squad members pursued Stephen McDonald on Auckland's north-western motorway in January 2009.
McDonald was on a drug-fuelled rampage and was later jailed mainly on firearms charges.
A large contingent of Mr Naitoko's family attended the last day of the hearing at Auckland District Court on Friday.
Mrs Fuimaono broke down in tears as she spoke of the unbearable pain she still feels more than a year after her son was shot by a bullet meant for another man.
She asked police to learn from the tragedy by improving their teamwork and communications to prevent another death.
"One day someone, somewhere will do something similar or worse than Mr McDonald. And I wonder whether the police and the AOS ready to deal with it. How would I know that I'm safe?"
Mrs Fuimaono described the pain of losing her son as a burning arrow that went through her body and ripped her apart, and says his death has also left them financially crippled.
Outside court, a spokesperson for the family, Peter Sykes, told the media the question he wants the coroner to answer is who it is that should have taken responsibility for Mr Naitoko's safety.
Officer thought teen would be safe
A dog handler with the Armed Offenders Squad was the last to give evidence on Friday and was cross-examined about his decision not to escort Mr Naitoko to safety when he arrived at the scene.
Constable Karl Pennington told the inquest he believed Mr Naitoko would be safe as McDonald had moved away from his van toward a truck, where the shooting later happened.
The constable who fired the bullet that killed Mr Naitoko gave evidence earlier in the week behind closed doors, and the transcript was released to media on Thursday.
The officer, who has name suppression and is only referred to as Constable 84, told the inquest police were initially unaware that the bullet intended for McDonald hit Mr Naitoko instead.
The officer said when they found out Mr Naitoko had died they had mixed emotions, their hearts sank and they felt sick. But at that stage, they still believed it had been McDonald who had killed him.
The coroner reserved his judgement on Friday.
