Mark Duggan Couldn't Have Thrown Gun From Cab - Armed officer said

A POLICE officer has said Mark Duggan could not have thrown the gun he is alleged to have been carrying out of the cab he was travelling in when police intercepted him.

The firearms officer, identified only as W42, gave evidence at the inquest into the fatal shooting of Duggan, who police claim threatened them twice with a weapon.

Jurors may consider the possibility that Duggan tossed a weapon out of the cab before police stopped and fatally shot him in Tottenham, north London in August 2011.

His death sparked riots that spread across London and England.

Officer W42 - an experienced firearms officer, the inquest jury was told - said this could not have happened.

Leslie Thomas, barrister for the Duggan family, asked: "Did you see anything being thrown from the cab?"

"No sir I didn't," W42 said.

Thomas asked: "If he had thrown the firearm from the minicab, [would] you get there too late to see it?"

W42 said: "I disagree." He added that, for that to be the case, Duggan would have had to have thrown the gun from the cab while it was still in motion.

W42 said he was the first to exit his car to confront and detain Duggan, after police surrounded the cab the 29-year-old had been travelling in.

Police say they had been acting on intelligence that Duggan, whom they believed to be a dangerous gang member, was in possession of a gun.

W42 said the cab's sliding door was open when he reached it, and then Duggan ran out. The jury also heard Duggan’s text messages, sent minutes before police stopped him, indicated he was aware he was being followed.

Two of the firearms officers present say they saw Duggan holding a gun, which was later found 10 to 20 feet away over a low fence. The officer who shot the Tottenham resident said he fired in self-defence.

But no officer or witness has confirmed seeing a gun flying out of Duggan's hands after he was shot.

W42 told the jury he shouted "show me your hands" at Duggan, who emerged from the cab with his hand in his jacket. When Duggan failed to comply, W42 said he shouted "he's reaching, he's reaching", as a warning the suspect was going for a gun.

But Thomas pointed out that this has not been corroborated by any of the other officers present.

W42 was saved from serious injury, after a bullet, which had passed through Duggan, tore through his uniform and lodged in his police radio.

The officer was taken to hospital but in his initial statement, made that evening, he neither mentioned that Duggan had failed to comply when challenged, nor his warning to colleagues that Duggan was "reaching" inside his jacket for a gun.

His explanation for the omission was: "I didn't believe it had to be included in the initial note."

Asked by Thomas why he did not fire when he was so close to Duggan, W42 replied: "I cannot see a gun".





Source: voice-online