Father of two killed after ‘excessively risky’ NSW police car chase

Each morning, as she prepares a substandard coffee, Elisabeth Adamson grieves the loss of her partner, who used to deliver her a perfect cup.

Harri Jokinen, 56, taught Adamson to slow down in life, to savour the moment. The pair had bought a new home and were planning to build a vegetable patch.

But three years ago, Jokinen was killed by a car that was being pursued in a high-speed police chase – a pursuit NSW Police should never have begun, according to findings handed down by the NSW Coroner’s Court this week.

“It’s an absolute, complete failure of the police,” Adamson told this masthead. She said she was “horrified” that the number of NSW Police pursuits had more than doubled since 2014, when another coroner recommended police restrict the “Russian roulette” practice.

On Friday, the Coroner’s Court again called for police to raise the threshold for pursuits to protect public safety.

Jokinen, an IT engineer and father of two, was driving on a stretch of the Monaro Highway outside Canberra on December 30, 2021 when his van was struck by a stolen black Holden Commodore whose driver was fleeing police.

Jokinen died of his injuries at the scene.

The offender, Marc Jessop, had been spotted by highway patrol officers earlier that morning, driving at speeds of 157km/h without a rear number plate. An initial chase was called off after the offender’s car reached speeds of about 180km/h.

But even though there was no evidence the offender continued to speed or to drive dangerously after the first pursuit ended, NSW Police decided to begin a second chase, Deputy State Coroner Rebecca Hosking found.

The police car in this second pursuit reached speeds of 204km/h. A communication breakdown meant instructions on how to conduct the pursuit were not received by officers on the road.

“The risk posed by the pursuit was, in my mind, excessive,” Hosking found. She concluded it should not have been authorised under the Safe Driving Policy, which requires police to weigh the need to immediately apprehend an offender against the risks to the community, police and the offender.

But the coroner also called on the Commissioner of Police to introduce a new threshold for pursuits.

Under the new policy, police wishing to chase would need to be satisfied a “serious risk to the health and safety of a person” existed before the decision to intercept or stop the vehicle.

The recommendation repeated one that was handed down in 2022, after an inquest into the death of 22-year-old man Tyrone Adams, which police did not adopt.

Jokinen’s elder daughter, Lisa, told this masthead she felt “really let down” by police and hurt that officers attending the inquest left the courtroom before the family read their statements last month.

“Where’s the respect, or any form of accountability, by standing up and walking out when it’s actually time for the victims to have their say?” Lisa Jokinen said.

In her statement, she described her father as “gentle, kind and endlessly generous”.

“I hate that I will never get to see my dad again, I’ll never get to hug him, tell him I love him, and hear him saying it back,” she said. “On 30th December, 2021, I wish I had been killed too.”

Adamson told the court: “I am devastated we don’t get to grow old together”. She also said that when she learnt of Jokinen’s death, “my present and my future exploded into a million tiny pieces”.

She said she had little anger towards the driver who crashed into Jokinen, who has since been sentenced to more than 10 years’ jail for manslaughter and other offences, and who has apologised for his actions.

“I am angry at the NSW Police Force’s lack of reflection and inability to assess and learn from their actions in the events leading to Harri’s death,” Adamson said.

In a statement, NSW Police said: “a comprehensive review of the findings will be undertaken and all recommendations will be considered”.

Jokinen’s family said they would now seek to meet with either the outgoing Commissioner of Police Karen Webb or her replacement to discuss the findings.

“Historically, they’ve ignored coronial recommendations,” Adamson said. “That’s not good enough.”

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