A MAN who was shot in the abdomen by police after he brandished a knife and lunged at them was killed in self-defence, West Australia’s state coroner has found.
Daniel Adwent, 44, died at Fiona Stanley Hospital on March 21, 2015.
Police had been called to a family violence incident in Perth and tried to control Mr Adwent’s threatening behaviour with a Taser but it failed twice and capsicum spray was also unsuccessful.
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READ NOWPolice had ‘no alternative’ but to shoot
Coroner Ros Fogliani said in her findings publicly released on Wednesday that the incident escalated quickly and without warning, but noted the force had since made changes.
She said she hoped the combination of the body armour and camera projects, and enhancements with the computer-aided dispatch and TADIS information systems would improve police responses to similar incidents.
“By improving safety for police officers, the risks to police of death or grievous bodily harm in similar circumstances may be reduced,” she said.
“The reduction of those risks has a flow-on effect, in that the additional protection may avoid a shooting.”
Ms Fogliani also said while some aspects of Mr Adwent’s medical treatment could have been better, any deficiencies were the result of the unavailability of more senior consultant clinicians in the specialty areas.
“The clinicians who did treat the deceased performed in accordance with their training and in accordance with what should reasonably be expected of them in highly challenging circumstances,” she said.
“I am satisfied that the deceased’s death was not contributed to by any act or omission on the part of any person at Fiona Stanley Hospital.”
Ms Fogliani acknowledged there had since been improvements made at the hospital too.
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