Overview
- On day two, the lead police negotiator became emotional in court, offered condolences to the family, and said the incident led him to leave the negotiating unit.
- He testified he supported a deliberate action plan after about seven and a half hours because he believed further negotiation would not succeed.
- Evidence outlined Ms Kach’s distressed state that day, her rejection of police authority linked to sovereign citizen beliefs, and general duties body‑cam vision of her throwing an axe and a rock before barricading herself.
- Tactical officers breached the Stockton unit around 9:30pm, deployed Tasers, and a super‑sock bean‑bag round struck her chest, with no tactical body‑cam recording and an under‑door camera that had run out of battery.
- The two‑week inquest is examining training, use of ‘less‑lethal’ munitions, and mental‑health responses, noting bean‑bag rounds were suspended after her death and later reinstated under revised rules, with two tactical officers excused from oral evidence.