Police driver feared colleague would be run over before Chris Kaba was shot
AY3 described the ‘dramatic’ scene as armed officers tried to stop the Audi that Mr Kaba was driving when he was fatally shot in September 2022.
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A police driver feared his colleague was going to be run over just before Chris Kaba was shot by a Metropolitan Police marksman, a court has heard.
The officer, known only by the cypher AY3, described “a very dramatic scene” unfolding as he gave evidence at the Old Bailey on Monday.
Fellow armed officer Martyn Blake, 40, is on trial for the murder of Mr Kaba in Streatham, south-east London, on September 5 2022.
Mr Kaba, 24, was shot once through the windscreen of the Audi that he was driving as he tried to smash between a marked police patrol car and a parked car next to it.
AY3, the driver of an unmarked police Volvo that was behind the Audi, said he saw an officer known as NX109 go towards the driver’s door of the car.
He said he had “almost been taken under the wheels, twice actually”.
He told the jury: “So my whole perspective and focus was on that side (of the car) and the officer, because it was a very dramatic scene.”
AY3 went on: “He’s gone forward to the driver’s door, the vehicle, the Audi has driven forward, at which point it looked to me as though NX109 was going to get scooped up by the rear wheels of the Audi.”
As AY3 gave evidence and viewed dashcam footage from the Volvo and footage from his own body-worn camera of what happened, he realised that in fact two officers had gone to the driver’s door of the Audi, first NX109 and then NX137.
Patrick Gibbs KC, defending, asked him whether police officers are asked to give multiple statements after incidents, because perception is “inevitably” distorted.
AY3 replied: “Yes.”
As the Audi reversed towards the Volvo for a second time, AY3 heard a gunshot.
He told the jury he heard someone shout “Shots fired”, and then someone shout “Head shot”.
AY3 then helped give CPR to Mr Kaba before paramedics arrived.
Under questioning by Mr Gibbs, he explained that officers do not train with vehicles shunting backwards and forwards, because it is too dangerous.
They are also advised not to go in a specific area at the front of a car called “the triangle of death”.
AY3 told the court there was a risk of “extreme injury or death” had one of the officers been dragged under the Audi.
Describing how officer NX109 had initially approached the driver’s door of the car, he said: “It looked to me as if he almost had hold of the door handle and as the car had driven forward I thought he’s definitely going under, he’s definitely going under the wheels.
“There is an extreme risk of extreme injury or death if you go under the wheels.”
Moments later a second officer, NX137, also approached the car.
“I think it was worse,” AY3 told the jury. “I think his position… he actually seemed slightly closer to the vehicle, it looked more like he was going to get sucked in and taken by the front wheels.
“For me it was worse than NX109’s original position.”
The court then heard from NX109, who was sitting in the back of the Volvo on the driver’s side when Mr Kaba was hemmed in.
NX109 got out of the Volvo and tried to open the driver’s door of the Audi, before it crashed into the marked police patrol car and a Tesla parked nearby.
“I put my hand… in the handle of the driver’s door and it was at that point I hear revving and I can feel the car moving and I manage to remove my hand as the vehicle moves forward and collides with the Tesla,” he told the court.
The jury was shown the officer’s body-worn camera footage where he can he heard shouting “mind him, mind him” to his colleagues.
NX109 told the jury he could hear wheel spinning from the Audi and did not think it was going to stop.
“Having dealt with firearms incidents in the past if you see something that’s perceived a threat you say it,” he said.
NX109 said it was “an overwhelming feeling“ to see dashcam footage of what happened for the first time.
“I was being pulled by the vehicle and just managed to get my hand out,” he told the jury.
He said that a rubber knuckle on the glove he was wearing momentarily got caught in the door handle.
“I thought I was going to get pulled into the gap between the two vehicles,” he said.
He said he thought the Audi was going to manage to force its way between the marked police car and the Tesla and drive away.