A young police officer had been in the force just 16 months when the car she was travelling in crashed into a tree, while in pursuit of a stolen vehicle.<\/p>\n
NSW Police said the marked police car had its lights and sirens on as it chased reports of a stolen car, when it crashed in Redfern, Sydney about 1.30am on Friday.<\/p>\n
The passenger in the police car, female constable Mia Lay, died instantly upon impact.<\/p>\n
The 20-year-old police officer had only been on the force for 16 months and showed exceptional promise, NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said.<\/p>\n
“There is nothing I can easily say that takes the pain away but please know that Mia was a loved police officer,” he told officers on Friday.<\/p>\n
Lanyon said it was too early to provide any specific details about the speed the police vehicle was travelling until the crash investigation was completed.<\/p>\n
Police Minister Yasmin Catley said her thoughts were with the officer’s loved ones.<\/p>\n
“Today is a dark day, a very sad day. We’ve lost a beautiful, young, enthusiastic and… wonderful police officer,” she told reporters after meeting with her parents.<\/p>\n
“Our police officers dedicate themselves to looking after others, and today the NSW Police family is mourning one of its own.”<\/p>\n
Paramedics treated the driver, a male constable, before he was taken to hospital in a stable condition.<\/p>\n
The NSW Police watchdog said it would monitor the force’s investigation into the crash to ensure public confidence.<\/p>\n
The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission said it could not independently investigate the incident until NSW Police finishes its probe, and any coronial or criminal proceedings are over.<\/p>\n
Her partner is also reportedly a serving police officer and has been offered support.<\/p>\n
Premier Chris Minns said he was thinking of the officer injured in the crash and those who responded at the scene.<\/p>\n
The police union paid tribute to their fallen colleague saying they were shocked by her death, days out from National Police Remembrance Day on September 29.<\/p>\n
“The death of this officer is sad evidence of the dangers they face,” the Police Association of NSW president Kevin Morton said.<\/p>\n
“In the coming days, as the community learn more about this officer, it will become apparent what a special young person they were. We grieve with our members and commit to supporting their family into the future.”<\/p>\n
Nearby Regent St remains closed in both directions between Lawson and Cleveland streets.<\/p>\n
Motorists have been advised to avoid the area, with several bus routes being diverted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A young police officer had been in the force just 16 months when the car she was travelling…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611130,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[85,67,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-611129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-australia","tag-crime-and-justice","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}