Police officer left force after fleeing driver hit him with car, offender sentenced

It is not the first time a police officer has been harmed while deploying road spikes. Photo / Michael Cunningham

• James Wiki Henry was sentenced to 23 months in prison for driving into a police officer deploying road spikes.
• The sentencing happened days before the funeral of another officer killed under similar circumstances.
• Police Association boss Chris Cahill said these types of incidents were “very raw to officers”.

A fleeing driver who sent a police officer flying and sped away from the scene as he lay injured on the concrete has accepted his offending played a large part in the officer leaving the force.

Police have called such incidents “abhorrent” and said the outcome in this case “could have been tragic”.

James Wiki Henry was sentenced this week, days before the funeral for Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming, who was killed after a similar incident in Nelson on New Year’s Day.

Fleming, 62, died after she and two colleagues were rammed by a car about 2am on January 1. She will be farewelled in a funeral service with full police honours tomorrow afternoon.

In Henry’s matter, police said the outcome could have been tragic, but thankfully the victim’s injuries were not life-threatening.

According to the summary of facts, Henry was pulled over by police on January 10 last year near Upper Hutt.

He opened his driver’s door, looked at the officer who had pulled him over, then took off at speed. Officers followed at road speed.

The victim, a constable, was in position on a roundabout laying road spikes to deflate Henry’s tyres. After deploying the spikes, he tried to regain cover behind a metal barrier, but Henry changed direction, driving directly at the victim and hitting him at a speed of 40-45km/h.

The victim rolled onto the bonnet, smashing the windscreen, and “cartwheeled through the air and landed flat on the concrete”, the summary said.

Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming will be farewelled in a funeral service tomorrow with full police honours. Photo / NZ Police

Henry did not stop to check if the officer was injured, instead continuing on State Highway 2 towards Upper Hutt with his two left tyres deflating from the spikes.

A few hundred metres south of Silverstream, the defendant threw a handful of Z nails at the ground in front of police vehicles in an attempt to deflate their tyres.

Two patrol cars had their tyres deflated.

“These actions significantly endangered the occupants of the vehicles as well as members of the public by causing them to become difficult to control.”

Henry continued, driving about 75km/h in a 50km/h zone, swerving his car side to side and into oncoming traffic trying to force police to stop their pursuit.

His car lost two tyres and became difficult to control, and Henry turned into a dead-end road where he fled the vehicle and was tracked and caught by a police dog unit.

In explanation, he told officers he was scared about being stopped by police, and he didn’t intentionally drive at the victim but was simply trying to avoid the spikes.

He was initially charged with hitting the officer deliberately but later pleaded guilty to a downgraded charge of injuring the victim recklessly.

He appeared in the Wellington District Court on Tuesday for sentencing on that charge, as well as charges of endangering transport, driving while forbidden, failing to stop to ascertain injury, failing to remain stopped, reckless driving, and several counts of shoplifting.

Defence lawyer Paul Surridge said Henry had hoped to meet the victim and apologise face to face.

“[The victim] left his job because of this. Society suffers because of that, and [Henry] agrees and can see that,” he said.

Judge Tania Warburton said the offending “has clearly had a significant effect and impact on the victim”.

James Henry was sentenced in the Wellington District Court on Tuesday. Photo / Hazel Osborne

“He was simply doing his job, protecting the community against reckless driving,” she said.

The victim had suffered injuries to his leg and knee joint, which she said was “one of the main reasons” he later resigned from the police.

Judge Warburton said Henry had written letters to the victim and the court.

“You acknowledge the need to pay a price for what you have done. You want us to understand you are learning from these actions to ensure you do not make the same mistakes again,” she said.

Henry has a large number of previous driving convictions, including nine for dangerous driving, and more still for dangerous driving causing injury. He also has a history of failing to stop to ascertain injury, failing to stop for police, and 21 convictions for driving while disqualified.

The judge said probation officers had noted their concerns Henry had previously made similar “remorseful remarks” ahead of sentencings, but continued to offend.

She said the difference here was that Henry had now engaged in counselling. She allowed a 5% discount to his sentence for remorse.

She also allowed discounts for Henry’s challenging and traumatic childhood — which she said contributed to his long history of offending — and for the “very positive steps” Henry had taken in addressing this. He also received a 25% discount for his guilty plea.

Henry was sentenced to 23 months in prison and three years of disqualification from driving.

The judge did not order any reparation, as Henry had more than $18,000 in reparations owing for previous matters.

In a statement after the sentencing, Detective Senior Sergeant Rebecca Cotton said the victim’s injuries were “thankfully not life-threatening, but the outcome could have been tragic”.

“Police officers go to work every day to keep the public safe and deliberate actions to put their lives at risk are abhorrent,” she said.

“Any behaviour that puts the safety of police, or any members of the public at risk will not be tolerated, and we work relentlessly to hold those offenders to account.”

Sergeant Derek Wootton.

Police Association president Chris Cahill said the incident highlighted the dangers vehicles presented to officers.

“Obviously, the consequences of this we’ve seen before in relation to the death of Derek Wootton in Porirua, so it’s certainly very raw to officers in the Wellington district,” he said, noting it also affected all officers in light of Fleming’s recent death.

In 2008, Sergeant Derek Wootton was killed on duty when trying to stop a Mongrel Mob member wanted for assault and carjacking.

He was hit by the gang member’s car while deploying the spikes, and died at the scene.

Another officer was critically injured in late 2022 when he was hit while laying road spikes for a stolen car.

“I think it just shows that the consequences, when things go wrong in policing, can be life-changing,” Cahill said.

He noted it was not always the physical effects of an incident that had the most impact.

“It’s far from just something that mends when you fix a broken bone … these are a permanent scar on someone.”

Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.