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Thread ID: 105413	2009-12-01 04:25:00	Cop CoverUp	pctek (84)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
835477	2009-12-01 04:25:00	www.stuff.co.nz A constable concocted a fake story and falsified job sheets to cover up the death of an Auckland man killed while being chased by police, a court was told. The story fooled a Police Conduct Authority investigation into the death of George Tipene Harris in 2004 and a subsequent coronial inquiry in 2005, the court heard. New evidence emerged four years after the incident and Constable Clinton Lyall Hill, 34, was charged with manslaughter, assault and attempting to pervert the course of justice last year. Hill, a serving police officer who is suspended on full pay, went on trial in the High Court at Auckland yesterday. He denies all charges. Another police constable, Reuben Harris, was sitting in the front seat of a police car when Hill allegedly assaulted George Harris in the back seat. George Harris fled during the assault with Hill in pursuit. He was hit by a street sweeper truck minutes later. Reuben Harris told the court that, moments after the collision, a senior police officer told him to make up details surrounding the night's events. "I don't recall exactly the dialogue we shared but I do remember a verbal from [name suppressed] saying 'you need to say this' in case someone saw him [George Harris] getting into the vehicle. The name of the senior police officer who gave the orders has been suppressed. Later, Reuben Harris falsified police job sheets related to George Harris's death, the court was told. Reuben Harris said he had omitted mentioning Hill's assault on George Harris. "I done a false statement so police wouldn't get in trouble." Yesterday, the court heard how an altercation broke out between Hill and George Harris outside a Manukau nightclub in the early hours of October 3, 2004, and Hill's jacket was torn. Hill, who was off-duty, arrested George Harris, Crown prosecutor Stuart Grieve, QC, said. He then hailed down a passing police patrol car. The two on-duty constables in the car, Reuben Harris and Benson Murphy, agreed to give them a lift to the police station. On the way they stopped off at a bank where they had been due to impound a vehicle. At the bank Mr Murphy got out of the car while Reuben Harris, drove to a nearby car park. The Crown alleges Hill then attacked George Harris. Reuben Harris was sitting in the front seat during the alleged attack. He told the court: "I didn't see it. I heard it. "What sounded like a punch or a slap." A minute later, Hill and George Harris got out of the car and the assault continued, the constable told the court. "I could hear Mr Hill being verbally aggressive and the other male passenger groaning in signs of pain, being hit." Reuben Harris did not intervene. "I know I should have, in hindsight, I should have done something, but I didn't," he said. Under cross examination, Hill's lawyer John Haigh QC challenged Reuben Harris' most recent version of events. Mr Haigh asked why Reuben Harris would take orders from Hill, an off-duty officer, who was partially intoxicated and of the same rank as himself. "Obviously I wasn't as confident as Mr Hill was and I wasn't confident enough to stand up to him or say no," Reuben Harris said. The court was told Reuben Harris has already been convicted for conspiracy to defeat the course of justice over this case. He is no longer serving with the police. The trial is set down for two weeks.	pctek (84)
835478	2009-12-01 04:51:00	So what else is new?	Sweep (90)
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