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.
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”.
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”.
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.”
