'lunatic' driver jailed, lifetime ban

'Lunatic' driver jailed, lifetime ban
May 16, 2005
From: AAP
A "LUNATIC" driver who was shot by West Australian police after deliberately driving at an officer and ramming an unmarked car has been jailed for at least 20 months and banned from driving again.

Harry Vance Quinn, 22, was convicted last month of assaulting a public officer after a jury at WA's Supreme Court heard how he repeatedly rammed his Ford Fairlane into an unmarked police car after being approached by two officers at a Perth petrol station.
Constables Adam Rackham and Craig Gregory were called to the service station in Osborne Park on April 17, 2003, to speak to Quinn.

But he tried to flee by repeatedly driving into the police car that was parked behind him.

In attempting to get the keys out of the ignition of Quinn's car, Const Rackham leaned in the window but was thrown from the vehicle, hit in the right leg and knocked to the ground.

Const Rackham was lying prone in front of the car when he fired several shots into the car's front grille.

The court was told Quinn then veered to the left, aiming at Const Gregory, who also began firing.

In all, 11 bullets hit Quinn's vehicle, with one of the shots striking him in the right leg, breaking his femur.

In sentencing Quinn today, Justice Geoffrey Miller said Quinn had acted in a dangerous and reckless manner.

"Firstly, you brought the whole incident upon yourself by your own dangerous and reckless behaviour," Justice Miller said.

"Secondly, the way in which you drove the vehicle on the night in question can only be described as lunatic.

"It was a deliberate ramming of a vehicle and with great force and in circumstances in which the lives of two police officers were clearly endangered because they were in a confined space where you were doing this.

"I also find that the police were fully justified in discharging their firearms.

"They were in a position where they had good reason to fear for their lives."

Justice Miller accepted Quinn had suffered and been left with residual disabilities as a result of being shot.

He was sentenced to three years and four months imprisonment, with a 20-month minimum, and a permanent disqualification from holding a driver's licence.