Police car mows down pedestrians
Two pedestrians were hospitalised after they were struck by a police paddy wagon which careened onto the footpath. It had suffered a collision while speeding through a red light, according to an eyewitness.
The police car, with a male driver and female passenger, had been ‘T-boned’ by a taxi while running the lights with siren on and lights flashing.
The accident happened on the corner of Pitt and Park streets in the city, outside McDonalds at around 1pm on Friday. East Sydney resident John Boers, 47, said he had been crossing Pitt Street on the south side of the intersection when he saw the police car speeding towards him, north along Pitt.
“The pedestrians scattered and the police car slowed down a bit and then floored it into Park Street,” he said. “I thought, ‘What a bloody idiot’, and then there was this huge bang.”
A Police media person at the scene later contradicted this, stating that the police car had “stopped at the intersection and beeped its horn before proceeding into the intersection.”
“It was a low-speed accident,” he said, adding that the police had been on an urgent mission.
Mr Boers said he ran across Park Street and saw a woman who had been hit by the police car “motionless on the ground and unconscious.”
“There was a moment of silence when everyone froze,” he said. “The policeman who had been driving got out and asked the policewoman if she was OK – then he seemed to run around in a panic for a while.”
Police later said two pedestrians had been hit. Both were taken to hospital as a precaution, one suffering grazes and the other with a possible fractured arm. The taxi driver and the two police were also taken to hospital for checks.
The taxi hit the passenger door of the paddy wagon and both the cab’s front airbags had been triggered. The Fire Brigade attended and removed the rear door of the taxi to rescue the driver as the front door had been wedged close to the paddy wagon.
Whatever the speed of the police car, judging from the sideswept skidmarks on the road, it had travelled across two traffic lanes and mounted the footpath with all four wheels before the driver could bring it to a halt.
by Michael Gormly
