{"id":810162,"date":"2026-07-19T12:35:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T12:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/810162\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T12:35:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T12:35:23","slug":"man-dies-after-police-pursuit-across-queensland-and-northern-nsw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/810162\/","title":{"rendered":"Man dies after police pursuit across Queensland and northern NSW"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man has died in northern NSW after a police pursuit that crossed the Queensland\u2013NSW border.<\/p>\n

Just before 1am on Sunday, NSW Police were told by their Queensland counterparts that a man was travelling south over the border, allegedly armed with a firearm.<\/p>\n

NSW Police later identified the weapon as a modified lever action long arm.<\/p>\n

The man, believed to be aged 25, was found driving a ute at Banora Point, near Tweed Heads about 1am.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

NSW Police said a firearm was found in the vehicle. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

A pursuit began after he failed to stop, and lasted more than 65 kilometres, with officers using spikes on “two occasions”.<\/p>\n

Acting Assistant Commissioner Tracy Chapman said that officers were confronted with a “dynamic and high-risk” situation, escalated by the presence of a weapon.<\/p>\n

She said that before the man’s car came to a stop in the town of Kunghur, about 26km south-west of Murwillumbah, it had gone over an embankment.<\/p>\n

“At about 3am police sighted a man seated in the vehicle with a firearm across his lap,” she said.<\/p>\n

“They deployed OC spray [capsicum spray] and removed the man from the vehicle.<\/p>\n

“At that time police became aware the man was unconscious and they immediately rendered first aid including CPR.<\/p>\n

“Unfortunately, that man died at the scene.”<\/p>\n

No other injuries were reported and the weapon, police said, was not used to threaten anyone.<\/p>\n

\"Acting<\/p>\n

Tracy Chapman says officers were confronted with a “dynamic and high-risk” situation. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

When asked about the cause of death, Assistant Commissioner Chapman said it was under investigation and “wouldn’t speculate”.<\/p>\n

The status of the man’s firearm licence, why he did not stop and who made the initial report to police are some of the issues that will be canvassed by a joint investigation.<\/p>\n

“I can’t speculate on why he didn’t stop. The mere fact that he was in possession of a firearm would, I imagine, have impacted on his decision-making around not stopping for police,” Assistant Commissioner Chapman said.<\/p>\n

“The man certainly did not have a licence in NSW and we’re working with Queensland police to understand all the holdings that they have.”<\/p>\n

Sirens and a ‘God-awful noise’<\/p>\n

The police chase woke up locals as it travelled through a number of suburbs, including Uki, where Brendan Esposito lives.<\/p>\n

\"Brendan<\/p>\n

Brendan Esposito says the car was travelling through the town about 70 kilometres per hour. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

He was sleeping on the verandah of his house when he was woken up by sirens and a “God-awful noise”, but could not see what was happening through the trees.<\/p>\n

“I thought, ‘That\u2019s probably a truck that\u2019s lost its tail shaft, maybe someone dragging a trailer with no wheels’. I didn\u2019t really know what it was but it was just a hell-of-a-racket.<\/p>\n

“It [the car] came through town reasonably slowly, I reckon maybe 70, it wouldn’t be going 80 kilometres an hour with a big long choo choo train of police cars after it.<\/p>\n

“I counted nine, and sometime later another three cars came through \u2026 it took some time for that noise to dissipate but I could still hear it miles down the road.”<\/p>\n

Critical incident<\/p>\n

NSW Police has established a critical incident investigation to examine the response of officers in the incident.<\/p>\n

“A critical incident team from Richmond Police District will lead the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident and a report will be prepared for the information of the NSW Coroner,” the spokesperson said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The investigation findings will then be independently reviewed by the Professional Standards Command and the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission.<\/p>\n

Assistant Commissioner Chapman said the officers involved have been offered welfare and support services, including from the NSW Police Association.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man has died in northern NSW after a police pursuit that crossed the Queensland\u2013NSW border. Just before…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":810163,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,385198,10470,385197,259266,44,4277,114478,79664,385199],"class_list":["post-810162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-banora-point","tag-fatal-crash","tag-kunghar","tag-kyogle","tag-news","tag-nsw-police","tag-police-pursuit","tag-qld-police","tag-queensland-border"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810162","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=810162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/810163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=810162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=810162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=810162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}