news, national

A police officer who drove at 192 km/h in an 80 zone while chasing a speeding P-plater, who then slammed into the side of a school bus, breached the force's own "safe driving policy", the NSW coroner has found. Senior Constable Robert Wright didn't activate the lights or sirens on his unmarked patrol car when he started chasing a speeding Nissan Skyline being driven by 18-year-old Ryan John Auton in March 2017. Less than 30 seconds after Sen Const Wright pulled out onto the Driftway at Londonderry in Sydney's west, the Skyline t-boned into a school bus travelling on Londonderry Road, killing Mr Auton. Acting State Coroner Teresa O'Sullivan on Tuesday found it "was not reasonable" in all the circumstances for the police officer to try and close down the gap to Mr Auton's Skyline "without activating the warning devices of his highway patrol vehicle". The P-plater - an apprentice landscape gardener - had been caught on radar doing 108 km/h in the 80 zone before Sen Const Wright hit 192 km/h while trying to catch him. The officer was doing 139 km/h and 173 km/h when he passed two other cars on the Driftway. He told the inquest into Mr Auton's death that he didn't activate the lights because he didn't want to "spook" the teenager before catching up to him. The coroner in Tuesday's findings said Sen Const Wright's breaching of the driving policy didn't cause the accident and it was possible Mr Auton didn't even know he was being followed. But, she noted, it was also "clear that Ryan's vehicle sped up considerably after he was followed". An officer engaged in so-called "urgent duty" ordinarily must activate their vehicle's warning devices and radio the job in. However, police can reduce the distance to an offending vehicle without doing so if they take reasonable care and it's "reasonable that warning devices are not used". The coroner on Tuesday found Sen Const Wright was a credible and honest witness who was attempting to comply with the driving policy when closing the gap to the Skyline. Ms O'Sullivan said there was some ambiguity in the way the safe driving policy was interpreted and she recommended officers receive "appropriate instruction" prior to the release of a revised version. Sen Const Wright was not engaged in a police "pursuit" at the time of Mr Auton's death because that phrase refers specifically to instances where a driver is being chased after ignoring a direction to stop. Australian Associated Press

https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-feed-data/e47f5d7b-6776-4105-8d67-d926a64f89ea.jpg/r0_74_800_526_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg