# New Zealand Officer Dies Laying Spike Strip



## Inspector (Nov 13, 2006)

Sergeant Derek Wootton is the 27th New Zeland police officer killed in the line of duty. Friends describe him as a popular man who will be sadly missed. Wootton, 52, was killed early on Friday morning as he laid road spikes intended to stop a stolen Honda Prelude being pursued by police.
He leaves behind a partner, siblings and an elderly mother.
"She just loved her sons to pieces and this to happen this way, would devastate her," says Paul Whiting, friend.
For Whiting the loss of his good friend has come as a shock.
"It's absolutely devastating, couldn't believe it. (It) couldn't have happened to, when I say a nicer guy he was just so down to earth," he says.
Whiting has known Wootton since the 1970s.
"(He) is really placid guy, wouldn't hurt a flea - we were really shocked when he become a policeman. We just thought it wouldn't be his line," Whiting remembers.
And 14 years later Wootton still loved his job.
The Porirua sergeant is the 27th police officer to be killed in the line of duty, the first to die putting out road spikes.
The last officer to die in uniform, 39-year-old Detective Constable Duncan Taylor was gunned down in rural Manuwatu in 2002, when he and his partner pulled over a youth to question him about a property offence.
Taylor was shot as he got out of his car and when his partner attempted to run for cover she was struck in the thigh.
The youth then ran into a nearby home and held three people hostage for several hours.
Three years before that Constable Murray Stretch was beaten to death by Carlos Namana while investigating a burglary at a Mangakino store.
Both their killers were arrested.
Now another officer's friends, family and colleagues face a terrible loss.
"I think when I get home and work's done for the day... that's probably when it will sink in," says Whiting.
*Police force in mourning* 
The Police Commissioner has visited the scene of the fatality along with other representatives from police national headquarters.
An ashen faced Howard Broad appeared to be feeling the loss very deeply and said the officer was well respected and will be very badly missed.
Wellington District Police communications manager Kaye Calder says news of the death has shocked the tight-knit police community, particularly in Porirua which is a smaller station.
"A death of any police officer on duty naturally devastates everybody, there's certainly a stunned disbelief in Porirua this morning," says Calder.
"People are close-knit, particularly those who are working the night shift. Full welfare support is in place for the officer's family and for colleagues - especially those who were personally close friends with the officer and his family."
Many of the officers working at the scene of the incident worked with the deceased officer on a daily basis, making their task even harder.
Police Association President Greg O'Connor told ONE News that police officers waking up this morning to the news, and others coming home from night shift, will be giving their partners "a little bit more of a hug".
"When we turn up to work we know what can happen - death on duty," says O'Connor.
He says as people find out they come in and want to be part of saying goodbye to a colleague who they all know very well.
"It is a hard time."
ONE NEWS


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