A 29 year old man was apprehended by police on Saturday night after allegedly trying to run his vehicle over a police officer in an effort to evade police arrest.
The incident happened when officers from the Solomon Islands Police Force (SIPF) National Intelligence Unit, supported by RAMSI Participating Police Force (PPF) officers, had attended the carpark of the Aloha Nightclub in Honiara with a warrant for a man wanted for attempted murder, arson and firearms offences.After identifying a vehicle believed to be owned by the wanted man, police attempted to stop the vehicle in a street near the Aloha Nightclub.
The driver of the vehicle, in an apparent attempt to evade the police, then allegedly drove the vehicle directly at a RAMSI police officer. He then drove into the nightclub carpark, hitting the entrance gates with the front of his vehicle.
Police attempted to stop the vehicle several times in the carpark, but the driver continued to drive forward, in the direction of a small alley way which led out of the carpark.
A RAMSI police officer was forced to fire his weapon at close range into the rear tyre of the vehicle in order to stop it, after which the man surrendered to police.
Provincial Police Commander for Honiara, Chief Superintendent Nathan Ratu, said it was a very serious incident.
"It is totally unacceptable for someone to use their vehicle as a weapon, and even more so when that weapon is used against a police officer," Mr Ratu said. "The police are here to uphold the law and keep the community safe."
The Commander of the PPF, Denis McDermott, said that the police officer who shot the tyre was following a process that, given the situation, is accepted by police as being the appropriate course of action.
"Discharging a firearm at any stage is something that a police officer does only after serious consideration. The officers involved were highly trained in the use of firearms and no person was injured," he said.
Source: Police Media Unit