Shot cop expected to be off work for months

Constable Jeremy Snow. Photo / Supplied

Wounded policeman Jeremy Snow will be off work for months after he walked into a hail of gunfire in a dramatic shooting in Papatoetoe, South Auckland, on Tuesday.

Police said Mr Snow was hit four times, once in the chest, in one arm and both legs, when he and a colleague checked a car parked in the driveway of a Papatoetoe house about 4am.

He has been in Middlemore Hospital where he had emergency surgery within an hour or so of the shooting.

Detective Inspector Mark Gutry from the Counties Manukau police said Mr Snow was still in a lot of pain and was expected to be off work for "months rather than weeks."

"The medical prognosis is good, it is just going to take time,"

Mr Gutry said he had spoken briefly to the constable.

"They have done the surgery. He may need more. He has got significant injuries but I think they have fixed most things but the doctors are talking months rather than weeks."

Mr Snow's stepmother, Marion Snow, yesterday said he had told her he didn't want to go to work on Monday night.

Mrs Snow said she phoned him from Great Barrier Island an hour before his shift began, trying to talk him into spending Christmas there.

His reluctance was out of character for the boy who grew up dreaming of being a policeman, Mrs Snow told the Herald yesterday.

"I said to him, 'You'll be right, Jeremy. Go get those buggers."'

Mrs Snow said her stepson did not tell her why he didn't want to work that night, but she suspects it was because he was tired after working four night shifts in a row.

"It's very frustrating to [the police], dealing with the not-so-good part of society, and that's their job, not dealing with the positive all the time.

"It's hard on your body - it does take a toll."

Hours after the call, Mr Snow was shot three times while on patrol in Papatoetoe, Manukau City.

The shots left him bleeding in a gutter, his femoral artery ruptured.

That he even survived the 10 minutes before help arrived without bleeding to death was "quite amazing", a doctor told the Herald.

"The femoral artery is a main artery, and a person could die within a couple of minutes if it was completely cut."

Mr Snow and partner Constable Robert Cato were driving along Buckingham Cres about 4.10 on Tuesday morning when they spied a parked car with its hazard lights on.

Mrs Snow said the decision to stop was typical of her stepson, who was a "wonderful guy" and "would have wanted to go and help".

He was barely on the footpath when semi-automatic gunfire came out of the darkness, bullets striking him in each leg and an elbow.

A couple of hours later, the Snows' phone rang on the island. It was Jeremy's aunt with the news.

His father, David, got the next available flight, to be at his son's side at Middlemore Hospital.

Fearing for his life, the probationary officer made a last request of his father, Mrs Snow said.

"He said, 'Dad, you know what I want done with the house'. But I can't tell you what. That's his personal business."

Mrs Snow said he "knew how close he was", and praised the police officers who rescued her stepson.

"They were absolutely amazing because they didn't know where the gun was."

Jeremy Snow had extensive surgery and was heavily sedated for eight hours. He was awake by Tuesday night, but the anaesthetic left him "pretty groggy".

"I spoke to him this morning and told him I loved him and we're praying for him," Mrs Snow said.

Police Minister Judith Collins visited Mr Snow in hospital yesterday.

Mrs Snow said the family's strong Christian faith was playing a big part in supporting him.

She doubted the incident would put him off his police career.

"His dream was to go into the police force and he [at about 170cm tall] was so pleased there wasn't a height limit."

He graduated in December last year, and she recalled him practising putting handcuffs on his father.

David Snow also spoke yesterday of his son's childhood dream.

"He wanted to be a truck driver or a policeman from a young age, and he's done a bit of truck driving," he said.

His son enjoyed being a policeman, which was no more dangerous than being a construction worker, he said.

"More people get killed on a construction site. It's just a job and you do these things."

- With NZPA