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Poppy Morandin and Jimmy Singh.

 

A teenage boy has fallen 10 metres off a cliff, whilst attempting to allegedly evade a police pursuit in Glebe.

At around 1:40am, officers spotted two motorcycles that they had received reports had been stolen from Sydney’s CBD.

They were being ridden by two teenage boys near the intersection of Bridge and Glebe Point Roads.

Police attempted to pull the riders over for a random breath test.

After officers directed the pair to stop, the pair refused, dropped the motorcycles, and subsequently jumped a fence that was barricading a cliff.

One of the riders, a 17-year-old male, suffered serious injuries after falling to the bottom, leaving him in a critical condition.

He has since undergone emergency surgery at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

The second teen, who was also aged 17, suffered minor injuries after landing on a small rock ledge that was only two metres down.

He was treated at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital before being taken to Newtown Police Station.

He has since been charged with steal motor vehicle, take & drive conveyance without consent of owner, never licensed person drive vehicle on road, police pursuit – not stop – drive recklessly, and breach of bail.

The teen was refused bail for the purposes of appearing at a children’s court.

It is reported that two officers also scaled the fence, resulting in a male constable also landing on the small rock ledge and suffering an arm injury.

The second officer surveyed the scene and then sought assistance.

“The police were doing what they’re supposed to be doing, patrolling the area … they did everything at that point, in terms of asking them to stop, correctly” commented Assistant Commissioner Maloney.

A spokesperson for City of Sydney council commented in regard to the call for better signage that: “the matter is under police investigation and the City will assist the police with their inquiries.”

In 2018-19 the NSW Police undertook 2,934 pursuits, with 1,640 of these being terminated by the police and 252 resulting in collisions.

There were no fatalities and 59 injuries arising from pursuits.

A critical incident team from Eastern Beaches Police Area Command has commenced an investigation into all circumstances surrounding the incident.

That investigation will be subject to independent review by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC).

A critical incident is an incident involving a police operation that results in death or serious injury to a person, thus requiring an investigation into the actions of officers involved.

“The [LECC] monitors the investigation of critical incidents from the time of the incident until the completion of the investigation by police, to provide assurance to the public that police investigations into critical incidents are conducted in a competent, thorough and objective manner.” published the LECC.

In its most recent report regarding NSW Police Force critical incident investigations, the LECC identified: “a number of investigations where it appeared that there may have been unreasonable delays on the part of the NSW Police Force in finalising these investigations.”

“These deficiencies are significant because they impact on the consistency and quality of the critical incident investigations that police undertake.” explained the LECC.

Police pursuit or Sky’s law is a criminal offence in NSW.

Section 51B of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) prohibits a driver of a vehicle to drive the vehicle in circumstances he/she ought reasonably to have known or had reasonable grounds to suspect that a police officer was in pursuit requiring the vehicle to stop, yet the driver fails to stop while the driver was driving recklessly or at a speed dangerous to others.

This has a maximum penalty of 3-years imprisonment, and an automatic disqualification of 3-years (or minimum of 12-months).

Have a question on Skye’s law? Call us and speak to a criminal lawyer in Sydney today.

AUTHOR Criminal Defence Lawyers Australia

Criminal Defence Lawyers Australia are Leading Criminal Defence Lawyers, Delivering Exceptional Results in all Australian Courts.

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