Reagan Chown: Car thief accused of killing WA policeman labelled himself ‘the victim’ for being Tasered

A car thief who ran over a WA policeman after a high-speed chase repeatedly blamed the officer in his interview with detectives, saying the cop had stood “in the line of fire”. The early morning pursuit in Ascot on June 8, 2023 abruptly ended in a cul-de-sac, with the marked police car pulling up next to the Holden Cruze stolen by Reagan Chown. Constable Anthony Woods leapt out and opened the driver’s side door of Mr Chown’s car, deploying his Taser after the vehicle began to reverse and becoming trapped as it hurtled backwards. Const. Woods, 28, was dragged underneath the car as it swung around, mounted a kerb and hit wooden bollards. The police officer, who had only passed his probation a month earlier, died in hospital three days later. In Mr Chown’s police interview hours after the incident, which was played at his Supreme Court manslaughter trial on Thursday, he insisted the electric shock from the Taser had caused him to stiffen and spasm involuntarily. He said the automatic car reversing “would never have happened if I hadn’t been Tasered”. “I was not in control of the vehicle at that point,” the 25-year-old told police. “I couldn’t stop my body from doing what it was doing. It’s not like I wanted to f...ing hit the accelerator. “My body was forced by electricity. It was completely unwilling.” He said his foot was on the brake and he had not put the car into reverse when he was struck by the device without warning. He told police that Const. Woods said nothing but should have “tried to engage” with him. “I got 100,000 volts pushed through me as soon as the door opened,” Mr Chown said. After being told footage had captured the officer twice shout “stay where you are”, Mr Chown said he didn’t hear it. Becoming increasingly agitated as the interview wore on, he said the officer should have “handled the situation a bit different”. Const. Wood was responsible for making sure the car was in park and had stood “in the wrong spot”, Mr Chown said. “The officer wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing,” he said. “He was in the line of fire and he shot me with a Taser. And now this sh.. has happened. “Obviously I should have stopped (during the chase) but I don’t think that amount of force is necessary.” Mr Chown said he didn’t even see Const. Woods but knew it was a police car that had pulled up next to him. “It went black because I was getting electrocuted,” he said. “I do remember him being underneath the vehicle at the end of it. That’s f...ed up, man.” He labelled the charge he then faced of grievous bodily harm “outrageous”, adding he “felt more like the victim” and repeatedly complained bitterly that he had been “tossed around” during the arrest. That prompted the officer’s mother Natalie Woods to leave the courtroom in distress. Mr Chown said he had been in a “horrible mental state”, having recently undergone facial surgery after an accident. “I’m not a sh.. person ... I just wanted to have some dinner and go to sleep,” he said. “That’s all I wanted to do.” At the end of the interview, Mr Chown conceded he “should have been more careful”. Asked if there was anything he wanted to add, he paused long before saying: “I’d just like to apologise for the outcome of this incident”. He denied to detectives having taken methylamphetamine that night, despite testing positive for the drug. But he made a formal admission through defence barrister Paul Bevilacqua that meth was found on him. He also told detectives that the car was on loan but eventually pleaded guilty to stealing it. Earlier, Taser medical expert Jeffrey Ho said the shocks could produce involuntary movement, largely affecting the muscles between where the two probes landed, although there was some “bleed-over” into adjacent muscles. “It doesn’t lock up every muscle in the body,” the University of Minnesota professor said. Shown photographs of where the Taser punctured Mr Chown, Professor Ho said his right foot and left hand would be “fully mobile” and unaffected by the shock. Asked by Mr Bevilacqua if a Tasered person may have a reflex to “push out” their limbs — startled and in pain — Prof. Ho said it was “possible”. “But you are still able to maintain mental clarity,” he added. The trial continues.