Inquest told firearms officer who shot man in Derby 'left with no choice'
A jury has been hearing accounts of what happened in October 2022
A firearms officer who fatally shot a man who was brandishing a knife outside a police station felt he was "left with no choice", an inquest has heard.
A jury was told that an officer, referred to in court as Officer A, shot Marius Ciolac with a police firearm in the car park of Ascot Drive Police Station in Derby on October 7 2022 after he entered the compound holding a blade and a cat in a pet carrier bag.
Derby Coroner's Court heard on Monday that the officer, whose identity is protected by an anonymity order, fired the gun between 18 and 22 seconds after he entered the car park with another armed officer, called Officer B.
The officer said he told Mr Ciolac to drop the knife, but did not say he was armed police, before he ran at him with the weapon raised.
Officer A told the jury: "He was closing me down - I was backpedalling. I knew that negotiation, which would have been my priority, was not working.
"We failed with the other less lethal options. I felt I was left with no choice.
"It was the most dynamic and quick police incident I have been involved in. I have not been involved in anything that has happened as fast as that."
Mr Ciolac, a 35-year-old builder who was originally from Romania, smashed through the first layer of the station's double glazed windows with the knife, appeared to "lick" the blade at officers through the door, and hit police cars before the two armed officers arrived, the court had heard.
Officer A told assistant coroner Sabyta Kaushal that he did not hear information passed through the police radio about Mr Ciolac's behaviour before they arrived at the scene.
He told the court: "We have not been passed, or I have not heard, that he has smashed through a window, that he has been towards officers at the other gate.
"The only information I had when I arrived on the scene was the sight of him walking towards police officers with a knife.
"My immediate concern, not knowing what had happened previously, was that he was approaching those officers to potentially do harm. I had to do something to mitigate that risk to those officers."
The officer said there was no time to speak to Officer B about their plan when they arrived in the car park.
"He started walking towards me. I raised my weapon and aimed at him at that point and shouted another command for him to drop the knife", Officer A said.
"He walked through the smoke of the stun grenade, there was no stopping when that stun grenade went off.
"The fact he's walking towards me and closing that gap means the risk could be high."
Officer A recalled Officer B having a baton gun, which he heard go off but "did not achieve its aim".
The jury was told that officers had also used Tasers which were unsuccessful in disarming Mr Ciolac before he "sprinted" at Officer A.
The officer said the default tactic when someone had a knife in a public area was to "challenge from a position of cover".
Officer A told Ms Kaushal he had never fired the gun, which was a carbine, outside his firearms training.
He said: "Outside of training I never fired the weapon live. I would have the carbine on me, potentially I would have pointed it at people, but prior to this job I never fired this weapon.
"That is the last resort you go to - that is taught to you from day one."
Mr Ciolac's brother and sister, who attended the hearing remotely with a Romanian interpreter, asked Officer A about why he did not shout "armed police" before he fired the gun.
His relatives said: "We have no experience with the police. We find it hard to believe every member of the public in the country would know what armed police look like."
Officer A replied: "We do routinely shout 'armed police' when we arrive but it is not a training standard. We do what we think we need to do at the time."
A pathologist previously told the inquest Mr Ciolac's cause of death was a gunshot wound to the abdomen and there was "no evidence" to suggest he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of his death.
The inquest continues.