‘Less lethal’ deaths: courts examine role of controversial police weapons before three Australians died | Australian police and policing

At least three people died within four months of each other after being shot with “less lethal” bullets and stun guns in their homes; This has sparked a series of investigations and civil lawsuits that could change the way police officers use force.

Police forces have argued that projectiles such as bean bag and foam baton rounds fired from weapons similar to shotguns and other projectiles provide officers with a less harmful alternative to firearms.

But the bullets have been linked to deaths around the world, and critics have argued that the continued increase in police arsenals has not been matched by commensurate increases in accountability and oversight.

The use of so-called “less lethal” weapons in incidents that left three people dead in NSW and Victoria has come under scrutiny.

The Victorian inquest heard that in July 2023, Mark Smith was shot five times with “less lethal” bullets and tasered 14 times by police. Her death came two months before Krista Kach was tasered and shot in the chest by a bean bag round fired from a “Super Sock” shotgun by NSW police in Newcastle.

Steven Woodhouse died in November after he was allegedly shot with bean bag bullets and a Taser at the Reservoir in Melbourne’s north by the Victorian Critical Incident Response Team (Cirt), the same police unit involved in Smith’s death.

Victoria police also face at least two other recent lawsuits over injuries caused by “less lethal” rounds fired at protesters.

A coroner planned to present findings into Smith’s death later this year, and the inquest into Kach’s death was scheduled to begin March 2.

Meanwhile, Woodhouse’s older sister, Shaye Woodhouse, filed a lawsuit against the state in high court in December, claiming that her 29-year-old brother’s death resulted from serious injuries sustained by police.

Bean bag bullets reintroduced

Kach’s family questioned why it took so long for his death to come before the medical examiner.

The family said in a statement: “More cases have occurred in the period since our mother’s death and the date of the judicial hearing.”

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The family also questioned the use of “less lethal” weapons against their mother. “We had never before heard of a bean bag being used on a woman experiencing a major mental health crisis, and we had no idea they were planning to use it on her,” they said. “[Police] “They need serious reforms on why and how they use ‘non-lethal’ weapons.”

A postmortem report for Kach, 47, described the cause of death as a “gunshot wound to the chest” after he was tasered and shot with a bean bag-style bullet from a Super-Sock shotgun after a long standoff with police in Newcastle.

Acting NSW police commissioner David Hudson said: “It appears that the bean bag round, or Super Sock round as it was known to the manufacturers, entered the deceased’s body and struck his heart, causing his death.” In that case.

“This was a less than lethal option and unfortunately this time it resulted in death, as it has done very few times around the world.”

The use of beanbag bullets was suspended by NSW police after Kach’s death, but was later reintroduced.

As part of an earlier investigation into less-lethal tools, Guardian Australia obtained records of NSW police using force since 2020. While the documents record incidents in which OC spray, batons and stun guns were used, bullets were not included as a category.

in 2023 NSW police said: Bean bag rounds were used in at least 15 high-risk incidents, but were not included in use of force statistics.

A year before Smith and Woodhouse died, the Victorian Cirt was savagely attacked in a report by the Independent Broad-Based Anti-Corruption Commission for misrecording uses of force and breaching the human rights charter.

Separately, two protesters hit by bullets in 2021 are also taking legal action against Victoria police in the district court.

Both claimed they were shot with little warning, causing injuries that required ongoing treatment. One of the cases was concluded in December.

“The bullet left a wound the size of a 20-cent coin on the side of my spine that required surgery and left an ugly scar,” said the protester, whose case remains open.

“I felt humiliated, humiliated, and started questioning what I had done wrong.”

Robinson Gill lawyer Jeremy King, whose clients have included people shot with Tasers or less-lethal rounds by Victoria police, said the weapons used were similar to those used by ICE in the US.

“There is almost zero control over how these types of weapons are used and how much they cost,” he said.

A Victoria police spokesman said bean bag bullets had not been used since 2020 but was unable to comment on the deaths of Smith or Woodhouse.

The force has previously publicly stated that it used 40mm baton rounds in tactical operations, including protests in 2025.

The civil case, which resulted in the protester being shot with a less-lethal shot in 2021, was resolved after considering the state’s litigation guidelines, which require the state to handle such claims fairly, quickly and consistently, a police spokesman said.

“Only a small number of civil cases have been brought against Victoria Police in relation to non-lethal tactical options,” the spokesman said.

Fuse box effect

All of the weapons used during the incident involving Smith were banned by the Victorian coroner’s court at the request of the police, despite Guardian Australia advocating for any restrictions on publication to be lifted.

The type of stun gun used during Smith’s arrest is no longer used by the critical incident response team.

The senior police officer who led the internal review into the death told the inquest in February that his death occurred after a series of dominoes fell. Smith was armed with a sword and knife and had made threats to his neighbor before police responded.

The inquest heard Smith was familiar with how Cirt worked and had not been affected by previous use of OC spray.

Before the shock was administered, he had been hit with less-lethal rounds, including his head, and with the device set to “driving stun” mode because he was under the riot shield.

The driver stun mode is described by the weapon manufacturer as a “pain adaptation option” that can only be used when the Taser is pressed firmly against a person, as opposed to the deployment of probes typically used when the device is fired.

Acting Supt Ilsa Wakeling told the inquiry Cirt had reduced the amount of Tasers used in incidents overall because the weapons were unreliable.

Lawyer Rachel Ellyard, assisting the coroner, said it was clear to find that Smith lost consciousness, dropped his weapons and was under shield before at least one deployment of his taser in taser mode.

Ellyard told the inquest that deputy state medical examiner Paresa Spanos could determine that police’s use of force did not follow their own guidelines but that others did. Ellyard said there was no suggestion that any use of force was unlawful.

Dr D., a forensic pathologist at the Victoria Institute of Forensic Medicine. Paul Bedford told the inquest that Smith died of a heart attack. But he outlined three factors that could cause death: pre-existing heart problems, including an enlarged heart and narrowed arteries in the context of a stressful situation; Smith’s use of methamphetamine; and the restrictions imposed on him by the police.

Any of the three factors could have caused death individually, let alone occurring together, Bedford said. In this way, he said, Smith’s death resembled an “eggshell skull” case.

While Bedford acknowledged that the effect on the heart could be similar to a fuse box exploding when too much load is applied to it, the use of Tasers may also be a factor.

Bedford told the inquest that Smith had five large bruises on his hip and the hip where the bullets struck him. He said extensive bruising increases the likelihood of cardiac arrest because it reduces the amount of blood in the body that can circulate to the heart.

Smith’s mother, Arita Smith, told the inquest that more needed to be done to prevent similar deaths.

“I sat down and listened to all the evidence presented, and I still ask myself: ‘Is there a better way?’” Smith said.

“It wasn’t easy sitting in the courtroom, but it’s the last thing I can do for him.”