Police woman shoots stolen patrol car 

By Police Reporter LEE JELOSCEK
30-aug-02

A WOMAN police officer has been praised for
shooting out the rear window of her stolen police car
after a bungled robbery in the western suburbs yesterday.

After a dramatic high-speed chase, the constable fired the 
single shot in a suburban street about 8.42am as parents 
dropped their children off at the nearby Seaton Park Junior
Primary School.

Her actions were hailed as "brave" by Deputy Commissioner 
John White and she will continue normal duties throughout 
an inquiry.

"She was shaken by the incident,"  Mr. White said.

"Police officers are placed in a whole range of difficult 
situations. The public would expect the police officer to do 
that but clearly that is a brave act... and that's what we would
expect our officers to do."

Mr. White said a Commissioner's Inquiry would be held into the shooting.

The chase began when two offenders, armed with a screwdriver and 
a syringe, tried to rob the Land of Promise Hotel on Port Rd at 
Hindmarsh about 6.45am.

They demanded cash from staff but fled empty-handed after an alternation 
with a hotel patron carrying a billiard cue.

Police said the man was stabbed in the shoulder before the offenders 
fled in a stolen Subaru WRX.

Police spotted the sedan when it ran a red light at the intersection 
of Rowells and Findon roads at Kidman Park about 8.20am.

They pursued the Subaru until it ran out of petrol on Kinross Ave, 
near Seaton Park Junior Primary School at Seaton.

Mr. White said the offenders abandoned the car and tried to steal
from a mother dropping off her daughter at school.

"A police officer from Port Adelaide traffic entered the other end of 
Kinross Ave, saw what was happening and left her vehicle and ran
over to prevent harm being caused to those people," Mr. White said. 

"One of the offenders then tackled the police officer, pushing the 
officer aside and assaulting her.

"He then got into the police car and drove in the direction of two 
woman and child and then made a U-turn coming back in the direction 
of the police officer. The police officer then discharged her weapon 
in the direction of the stolen police car."

A second chase began with the stolen police car hitting four other
vehicles before crashing on the median strip of Port Rd.

The driver was arrested by STAR group officers.

One witness, Audrey Rawinski, was driving to work when she saw the
stolen police car approach.

"I saw a police car driving extremely fast behind me, and it didn't
seem to be in control," she said.

"Then a couple of seconds later it crashed into the back of my 
car very hard."

The other offender ran through the primary school and hid in the 
backyard of a nearby house before he was found and arrested.

Two men were charged at Port Adelaide police station and were held 
in custody to appear in court today.


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