At least three people died within four months of one another after being shot with \u201cless lethal\u201d projectiles and stun guns at their homes, sparking a series of inquests and civil cases that could overhaul how police officers use force.<\/p>\n
Police forces have argued the projectiles \u2013 such as bean-bag and foam baton rounds fired from weapons similar to shotguns and other launchers \u2013 provide officers with a less harmful alternative to firearms.<\/p>\n
But the projectiles have been linked to deaths around the world, and critics have argued that their continued increase in police arsenal has not been matched by commensurate increases in accountability and oversight.<\/p>\n
The use of the so-called \u201cless lethal\u201d weapons in incidents that led to the deaths of three people in NSW and Victoria<\/a> has now come under scrutiny.<\/p>\n In July 2023, Mark Smith was shot five times with \u201cless-lethal\u201d projectiles and Tasered 14 times by police, a Victorian inquest has heard. His death came two months before Krista Kach was Tasered and hit in the chest with a bean-bag round from a \u201cSuper-Sock\u201d shotgun fired by NSW police in Newcastle.<\/p>\n Steven Woodhouse died that November after allegedly being shot with bean-bag rounds and a Taser in Reservoir, in Melbourne\u2019s north, by the Victorian Critical Incident Response Team (Cirt) \u2013 the same police unit involved in Smith\u2019s death.<\/p>\n Victoria police also faced at least two other recent court cases regarding injuries caused by \u201cless lethal\u201d projectiles fired at protesters.<\/p>\n A coroner planned to deliver findings into Smith\u2019s death later this year, and an inquest in Kach\u2019s death was due to start on 2 March.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Woodhouse\u2019s older sister, Shaye Woodhouse, filed a supreme court case against the state in December, alleging the death of her 29-year-old brother was caused by catastrophic injuries inflicted by police.<\/p>\n Bean-bag rounds reintroduced<\/p>\n Kach\u2019s family questioned why her death had taken so long to come before a coroner.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the time since our mum\u2019s death and the date of the coronial hearing, there have been more cases,\u201d the family said in a statement.<\/p>\n Sign up: AU Breaking News email<\/a><\/p>\n The family also questioned the use of \u201cless lethal\u201d weapons on their mother. \u201cWe had never heard of a bean-bag to be used on a woman experiencing a major mental health crisis before \u2013 and we had no idea they had plans to use it on her,\u201d they said. \u201c[Police] need serious reform on why and how they use any \u2018less than lethal\u2019 weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n The postmortem report on Kach, 47, described the cause of death as a \u201cgunshot wound to the chest\u201d, after she was Tasered and hit with a bean bag-style round from a Super-Sock shotgun after a long standoff with police in Newcastle.<\/p>\n The use of bean-bag rounds was suspended by NSW police after Krista Kach\u2019s death, but has since been reintroduced. Photograph: Livestream<\/p>\n \u201cIt would appear that the beanbag round, or the Super-Sock round as it\u2019s known by the manufacturers, has entered the body of the deceased and ended up striking her heart, causing her death,\u201d the NSW police acting commissioner, David Hudson, said at the time<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a less than lethal option that was taken and unfortunately on this occasion, as it has done around the world on very few occasions, has resulted in a death.\u201d<\/p>\n The use of bean-bag rounds was suspended by NSW police after Kach\u2019s death but has since been reintroduced.<\/p>\n As part of a previous investigation<\/a> into less lethal tools, Guardian Australia obtained records of use of force by NSW police since 2020. While the documents logged incidents where OC spray, batons and stun guns were used, projectiles were not included as a category.<\/p>\n