The North's Police Ombudsman has issued a critical report on the PSNI's handling of an arrest operation that led to the fatal shooting of an Antrim man in 2003.
Neil McConville (21) was shot dead by officers after his car was stopped by police near Lisburn in April 2003.
Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan's investigation established "no criticisms" of the police officers on the ground who had, she said, "concluded that there was a serious and imminent threat to life".
However, she was highly critical of senior PSNI commanders "for failing to consider properly alternative methods for apprehending the suspects".
The PSNI had been monitoring the movements in Belfast of a car that Mr McConville was driving during an operation designed to stop a gun attack on another individual.
When the car left the city and headed south towards the Co Antrim village of Stoneyford, two police vehicles were ordered to stop it from behind and managed to halt it.
When a PSNI officer smashed the driver's window and tried to pull Mr McConville out of the car, it suddenly reversed, striking the officer on the hand and knocking another officer to the ground. With the car revving loudly and threatening to drive over the injured officer, Mr McConville was shot three times by a PSNI officer who intended to only fire one shot but had inadvertently set his gun to 'three-shot burst' mode.
The passenger, David Somers, was also wounded by a bullet which had already struck Mr McConville.
Mrs O'Loan's report said the tactic of pursuing the vehicle and stopping it from behind was inherently dangerous, placing both officers and suspects at risk.
The report found "no evidence of compliance with proper procedures" in the lead-up to the shooting. There was little evidence - and no documentary evidence - that they had considered other options, the report said.
Mrs O'Loan also found the majority of officers in the PSNI control room to be unco-operative with her investigative team in the aftermath of the shooting.
The Ombudsman revealed she had asked Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde to transfer the two serving officers who did not co-operate with her investigation to a less contentious area of policing and remind them of their obligations under the code of ethics.
She also expressed "grave concern" that sensitive intelligence was deleted from a police computer during her investigation.
Her investigators were told the information was accidentally deleted and, despite seizing the hard drive and securing expert help, it proved impossible to recover.
The Ombudsman said there was no evidence to support or disprove the police explanation of human error. But she said: "People may have great difficulty accepting the explanation offered . . . particularly following the resistance to granting access to the material."
The Ombudsman noted that she had recommended in January 2005, following another investigation, that the automatic mode of the Heckler and Koch MP5 gun be disabled because the level controlling it could be easily switched to the wrong setting.
She demanded all operational weapons used by the PSNI be immediately adapted to remove the automatic capability, with a few exceptions.
The PSNI expressed regret over Mr McConville's death but noted the Ombudsman had found the officer who discharged the shots was justified in using his gun to protect a colleague.
Sinn Féin expressed concern about the officers who retired during the investigation and escaped disciplinary action, but the PSNI said officers were aware of their responsibility to cooperate with Ombudsman investigations.