Crash in Canberra 4 killed today

[HAZZA-VN]

Howdy not sure if this has been posted yet i couldn't see it delete this if it has been already

NSW police stopped chasing a stolen car in Canberra's south moments before it ran a red light and hit a vehicle, killing two adults and a baby in the second car.

A 33-year-old Canberra man, 29-year-old woman and her four-month-old baby boy died instantly in the collision on Saturday night, when their car was hit with such force that it slammed into a tree and split in two.

The 23-year-old man driving the stolen Mazda 626 died later at The Canberra Hospital, where his 18-year-old female passenger was today in a critical condition.

The pursuit was initiated in Queanbeyan shortly after 10pm (AEDT) after the stolen car sped past police conducting a traffic stop.

The chase continued across the border into Canberra but was called off when the stolen car ran a red light.

A short time later it ran another red light and struck the other car at the intersection of Canberra Avenue and the Monaro Highway exit ramp at Narrabundah.

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Police won't say if the chase stopped at a set of lights just 50 metres from the crash scene, or a set of lights further up the road.

The police car arrived at the scene "within a very short space of time", Superintendent Mark Colbran from ACT Policing's Collision Investigation and Reconstruction Team said.

Crash scene investigators were at the scene until the early afternoon today, reconstructing the incident, which will be subject to investigation for the coroner.

Superintendent Colbran could not confirm how fast the stolen car was travelling when the collision occurred, but said the impact had been "very big".

"I've seen worse impacts, but I haven't seen worse results."

NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said the young officers involved were traumatised by the "tragedy almost beyond description".

"Our thoughts go out to not only those involved in the accident but their families, loved ones, and please spare a thought for those officers involved," he said.

"No officer would ever want to go through this - these men were simply doing their job."

Superintendent Colbran also defended the young officers.

"Police don't start pursuits, other vehicles choose to engage in pursuits," he said.

"It's always a very difficult decision that police have to make on the spot, whether or not they should engage in the pursuit or not."

The issue of police pursuits has recently been under the spotlight in NSW, which has developed new laws aimed at cracking down people who initiate dangerous car chases.

The laws, which include five-year jail terms for repeat offenders, were sparked by the death of toddler Skye Sassine who was killed in a police pursuit on New Year's Eve.[/HTML]

Police 'stopped chase' before fatal crash | News.com.au

[TVR-190]

TVR waits for the usual influx of people blaming the police....

[HAZZA-VN]

I'm not its the idiotic driver, the police chased but only doing there job if there to let people go speeding past a police stopp everyone would do it

[calais24/7]

My old man was driving home last night over that overpass and said he seen heaps of coppers and amublance. Apparently the couple with the kid where going to see his father who lived in a caravan just 200 meters up the road. I feel sorry for that family they did nothing wrong and look what happened cause of some complete F***ing wanker. Also poor officers who will get blamed for engaging in the persuit resulting the accident. But could you imagine how much car theft and crime would rise knowing the officers wouldn't chase you if you sped

[acarmody]

Definitely not the cops fault, morons who run from cops, when eventually caught should have jail time, and loss of license for a minimum of 5 years.

[Maxxiz]

Yeah, people blaming cops really give me the shits, as the copper said "Police dont start pursuits, other vehicles choose to engage in them", very true.

[Kikki]

Oxygen thief no longer thieving oxygen.

How tragic for the families involved. Nothing but a fool.

[TVR-190]

relatives of the family that was killed are blaming police apparently ........

[acarmody]

relatives of the family that was killed are blaming police apparently ........

Gotta blame someone before you can sue. Thats where this will probably land, putting a price on dead relatives.

[Kikki]

Yeah but look at the loss, they have to blame someone. The guy who is at fault is dead, they have no one to answer their questions, of course they would attempt to blame the police, imagine how it would feel to lose so many at once, and a 4 months old child, they would be hell angry and need somewhere to direct it.

[acarmody]

I don't like the statement that they have to blame police because the other guy is dead. Yeah they are going to feel like poo in having that big of a loss, but that isn't an excuse to blame whoever the hell you want.

[TVR-190]

id blame the government for not giving police more options on stopping pursuitsm such as PIT or use of live fire

[Scooter79]

I saw the news tonight and the dead mans family left no doubt as to who they thought was at fault. The brother of the victim said he didn't blame the driver of the stolen car or his family because "It's what young people do... they get scared and they try run from the police". Well I'm sorry but when stealing cars and running from police becomes an acceptable activity in todays society, we really need to take a long hard look and ask where we ****ed up.

[dirt drifter]

I saw the news tonight and the dead mans family left no doubt as to who they thought was at fault. The brother of the victim said he didn't blame the driver of the stolen car or his family because "It's what young people do... they get scared and they try run from the police". Well I'm sorry but when stealing cars and running from police becomes an acceptable activity in todays society, we really need to take a long hard look and ask where we ****ed up.

damn straight, it's bloody ridiculous how crims are such a protected species nowadays, how the hell can anyone not blame a lowlife thug who smacked into their loved ones at warp speed in a stolen car just because 'it's what young people do'? unbelievable

i like TVR 161's idea, the one about allowing live fire more often. from memory the (divided) road between queanbeyan and canberra has bugger all on the side of it meaning a copper could have pulled up next to the stolen car and shot the driver to pieces with very minimal risk to the law abiding general public. it might sound a bit harsh but i know which headline i would rather see out of 'young family tragically killed in police chase' or 'scumbag car thief cops a half a dozen rounds in the head, no law abiding citizens injured'

[Jesterarts]

I've been following this story over the last couple days:

Canberra police chase crash

Absolutely horrible situation and my deepest condelences go out to the family of victims.

Some scumbag wiped out an entire family because he chose not to stop, give himself up and spend maybe 3 years in jail. He decided that 3 years of hims life lost were worth MORE than the lives of all the other people on the road at the time AND the lives of the police officers trying to do their job.

What gets me even more furious, is that now the finger of blame is being pointed at the Police Officers who gave chase, the officers doing their jobs, rather than at the scumbag who stole a car, was driving it in a manner that attracted police attention and caused the chain of events that lead to this horrible outcome.

Quote from article:

Mr Oppelaar's cousin, Jason Kelly, said: ''I purely blame police for it. He's getting chased and that's what young people do. They get scared and they take off,'' he told reporters.

That's what young people do?!? WTF?? I was young and I never got into high speed police chases that resulted in innocent people dying!!!

I really don't understand this, why is the criminal no longer to blame for the crimes he comits and the destruction he causes?

The suggestion made in this article is that if police hadn't given chase, this criminal wouldn't have been speeding, wouldn't have run a red and wouldn't have killed the family.

To that I say, if he hadn't decided to live as the scum of the earth and stolen a car, then there would have been no pursuit and this innocent family would have made it home and lived on!

Anyway, that is all my opinion.

Now I want to hear what other members say.

Who do you think is directly responsible for this event?

[Jesterarts]

Opps, didn't see this thread before.

Started a poll on this topic:

http://forums.justcommodores.com.au/...hos-fault.html

I can merge the two threads into one if people like.

[jakbob]

That really is horrific. The relatives of the family must be going through hell. I lost an uncle I was quite close to in a car accident a few weeks ago, and that was hard enough. It still is, so I can't imagine what those people must be going through.
As far as I'm concerned car thieves should be put against a wall and shot. They belong in the same circle of hell as rapists and pedophiles.

[minux]

Hmm, anyone who blames police for anyc hase involving a stolen car/criminal is a moron.

We pay police to do this, it is not their fault a wanker will not pull over after STEALING someones car. It seems society is forgetting who the real criminals are.

[W84N01]

I think the police have too many rules and regs they ahve to follow, and unfortunately they get more and more put on them every few months by the sound of it, pretty soon they won't be able to even breathe without someones permission.

you can not blame a police officer for doing his or her dull duty by trying to keep the public safe from a stupid bloody idiot like this creton. If they weren't there, he probably would have killed or injured alot more than those he already has.

My sympathies and condolences go out to that poor family, God knows i'd hate to think how i'd feel or what i might do be it me in that situation.........i'd probably be that angry i'd have to blame someone myself, and unfortunately the police is always in the limelight, and they might also be the first people i blame, until i calmed down and maybe re viewed the situation.

As much as i don't like the police at times, with situations like this, i'd back them up the whole way. They do a great job and they are fully trained and qualified to handle situations like these, the only thing they can't do is read minds and know what the d*ickhead behind the wheel is thinking.

[illusionalvr]

what about his female passanger? im sure she could have copped a slug in the head quite easily. the truth is, there is no real safe way to slow a car at such speed down safely. fire a GPS locater on the back of the car and follow it at a safe distance, til it stops.

[Jesterarts]

Yeah, completely agree...

More and more the police is to blame for this and that.

Police are blamed for triggering they BJ Riot, Police are blamed for for pursuit crashes, someone attacks a officer with a weapon and is shot dead, you guessed it, the police are to blame.

It's an absoulte joke... makes me furious.

The police used to me like a pitybull, and crims used to fear them... not they've been muzzler and nuttered why bureaucrat crap.

Grrr!

[cdtoaster]

cops were just doing their job. people are always bitching cops not do anything, someone steals cars cops chase, it's what should happen. maybe cops should be allowed to deploy more force to bring the fleeing vehicle to stop rather than just following it around until the driver decides to pull over

[savage1987]

Who voted the police were to blame? ****ing fail.

Retards in stolen cars always to blame. Even for unrelated stuff, lol


Jester I'm with you on this one, makes me furious when police get the blame for this shit

Sam

[SV6SidiUTE]

what a complete bunch of fuc*wits. "I blame the police" WHAT a COMPLETE fuc*ing moron!!! Horrible thing for that family to have died, the piece of shit should have died by himself. FFS! He was a good bloke was he? Getting his life back on track was he? Oh great way to get your life back on track by stealing a car and killing a family. I can only wish the worst on him, maybe if he survived and stayed a vegetable would have been a better result....

[2DIE]

A few years ago I was listening to a police scanner at a friends place in Victoria, we heard the conversation back and forward from the police car back to the station.

The police car was trying to pull over a car in a 70 zone, they had been following it for a fair while and the car wouldn't pull over. They asked back at the base what to do and got told if the car goes over 80 to stop pursuit.

Anyway after about 5 mins of this the car pulled over and it was a old grand mother, she said she didn't know they wanted her to pull over and she was waiting for them to pass her the whole time.