{"id":566021,"date":"2026-03-26T17:17:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T17:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/566021\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T17:17:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T17:17:12","slug":"drug-fuelled-driver-who-hit-schoolboys-sues-commonwealth-over-arrest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/566021\/","title":{"rendered":"Drug-fuelled driver who hit schoolboys sues Commonwealth over arrest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Warning: An image in this story shows an injured face and might cause distress.<\/p>\n

A drug-affected driver who hit two schoolboys in Canberra last year is suing the Commonwealth over his arrest.<\/p>\n

Sydney solicitor Callum Johnson has filed a claim in the ACT Supreme Court on behalf of Tayler Hazell, seeking damages for “unlawful battery”.<\/p>\n

The claim says the Commonwealth is vicariously liable as the employer of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers involved in the incident.<\/p>\n

Bodycam footage from March 28 last year shows tactical police forcing Hazell to the ground after he was handcuffed following a hit-and-run outside St Edmund’s College.<\/p>\n

Two schoolboys were seriously injured after being struck by Hazell,<\/a> who was on drugs and driving erratically in a stolen car he had taken from a Sutton childcare centre.<\/p>\n

There was an eight-year-old girl still inside the stolen green Commodore before he drove a short distance and let her out of the car.<\/p>\n

He crashed the car in Manuka where the arrest took place.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The driver of the green station wagon allegedly did not stop after hitting the boys, and continued down the road before crashing outside St Christopher’s Cathedral in Manuka. (ABC News: Emily Anderson)<\/p>\n

‘Guys, bodycam is on’<\/p>\n

Prosecutors have already accepted the force used by police was unlawful, while an AFP investigation has found the officers’ conduct breached professional standards.<\/p>\n

The footage shows two members of the AFP’s Tactical Response Team arriving late at the scene.<\/p>\n

Hazell, already handcuffed, can be heard telling them, “Nah man, I’m done, I’m done”, before one of the officers grabs him by the neck and shoves him to the ground.<\/p>\n

As the incident unfolds, a uniformed officer tells the tactical officers, “Guys, body cam is on.”<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

An internal AFP investigation has found the officers’ treatment of Tayler Hazell breached professional standards. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Hazell suffered ‘pain, fear, embarrassment’<\/p>\n

Hazell’s statement of claim says “the plaintiff’s face was injured and covered in his own blood”.<\/p>\n

“The plaintiff was distressed as he told police he thought he had hit kids with the car that he had been driving.”<\/p>\n

The claim states Hazell is seeking damages for injuries including pain, fear and embarrassment, as well as aggravated damages for violence and disgrace.<\/p>\n

Hazell will be sentenced in the ACT Supreme Court tomorrow after pleading guilty to a number of charges, including two counts of culpable driving causing grievous bodily harm.<\/p>\n

His civil case against the Commonwealth is expected to be heard in July.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Warning: An image in this story shows an injured face and might cause distress. A drug-affected driver who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[45387,64,63,2667,16489,48240,44,1158,278495,74682,92934],"class_list":["post-566021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-arrest","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-canberra","tag-commonwealth","tag-hit-and-run","tag-news","tag-police","tag-st-edmunds","tag-sue","tag-tayler-hazell"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}