Protheroe, Jason Paul
Deceased
Jason Paul Protheroe
Demographics
36y, male
Date of death
2012-04-17
Finding date
2013-06-14
Cause of death
Multiple gunshot wounds
AI-generated summary
Jason Paul Protheroe, a 36-year-old with a history of drug use and criminal convictions, was shot and killed by police constable Thomas Hess at a residence in Bracken Ridge on 17 April 2012. Protheroe was found in the backyard when police attended to arrest him for vehicle theft. The coroner found that Hess fired at Protheroe after observing him produce and point a replica handgun, which Hess reasonably believed to be a real firearm posing a mortal threat. The shooting was justified as lawful self-defence. However, significant systemic failures were identified: inappropriate media statements by the police union president potentially compromised the investigation integrity, unauthorised release of criminal records of the deceased and witness damaged investigation credibility, and inadequate family liaison and scene security protocols. The coroner emphasised the need for clearer policies governing union officials' public statements during critical incident investigations and better protocols for protecting investigative integrity while supporting officers.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Specialties
Error types
Drugs involved
Clinical conditions
Contributing factors
- Methamphetamine use and drug-induced psychosis
- Possession of replica pistol
- Police responding to parole breach and vehicle theft
- Failure to de-escalate or use alternative force options
Coroner's recommendations
- QPS review policies and procedures to ensure access to outer cordon of critical incident scenes is limited to those needed to investigate and/or respond; union officials should have access to members away from incident scene whenever possible
- QPS procedures for managing incident scenes should ensure family members and secondary victims are treated appropriately and given as much information as possible without compromising investigation
- QPS and police union review union officials' areas of activity that may conflict with QPS functions to ensure appropriate policies and protocols are in place, particularly regarding confidential information access and dissemination
- QPS review policies relating to public comment concerning critical incidents; statements should be limited to confirming incident occurred, assuring public safety, expressing concerns for families and officers, confirming thorough investigation and coroner's inquest process, and emphasising impartiality; have regard to Office of Police Integrity recommendations; resulting policies should be binding on all police officers including union officials
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