00:01I think you could hear the emotion in the police officers who spoke this afternoon about this
00:06crash which took place in the early hours of this morning on Gibbon Street in Redfern. What we know
00:11is that a 24-year-old male constable and his passenger, 20-year-old constable Mia Lay,
00:18were driving to reports of a stolen car in Glebe. They were under lights and sirens when they
00:24crashed into a tree. It immediately killed constable Lay and the 24-year-old male driver
00:30was taken to hospital with a leg and facial injuries and he's still in a stable condition.
00:35We heard from the New South Wales Police Commissioner, Mal Lanyon, at around midday today and you could
00:41hear the heartache in his voice talking about and describing someone, constable Mia Lay, as a
00:47promising young police officer in the prime of her life which was all tragically cut short this
00:53morning. She was attending a scene, she was serving her community, trying to keep her community safe
00:59and unfortunately as Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said she paid the ultimate sacrifice for her
01:04service. Here's what Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon had to say earlier today. There is nothing I can say
01:10easily that takes the pain away but please know that Mia was a loved police officer. Mia had been in
01:17the
01:17New South Wales Police for 16 months. She's shown exceptional promise and was well loved through the South
01:24Sydney Police Area Command. She would have been an outstanding police officer and to lose her life, both in its
01:31prime
01:32and just at the infancy of becoming a police officer, is a terrible tragedy.
01:36To Mia, thank you for your courage. Thank you for choosing to join the New South Wales Police Force and
01:42thank you for
01:43serving the community of New South Wales. You will not be forgotten.
01:49Incredibly emotional presser earlier today, Jo. We also heard some comments that were made by her
01:55parents to the Police Commissioner Yasmin Catley and the Deputy Commissioner who was there at the press
02:00conference David Hudson. They spoke about how she was in the prime of her life, she was loving life, she'd
02:05only
02:06just returned from a holiday with her partner who was also a police officer just a week ago and was
02:12back on duty at the South Sydney Police Local Area Command. We also know that she only graduated from the
02:20Police Academy 16 months ago so she was very much at the early stages of her career. What we heard
02:25from
02:26Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon there, it was an incredibly promising career as well. The reactions and the
02:31tributes have been flowing into New South Wales Police family. We also heard from Premier Chris
02:37Minns earlier today who commented on the passing of this young constable.
02:41I am devastated for her mother and father, I'm devastated for her partner, I'm devastated for
02:47the policing community in New South Wales that will be hurting and I want to say on behalf of everybody
02:55in New South Wales we are thinking of Mia's family today, they would be absolutely heartbroken at the
03:02death of their daughter. She was a serving New South Wales Police Officer of distinction, she was respected
03:08by her colleagues, she'll be missed by many and she was doing her duty for our state. And Ethan is
03:14anything
03:15known about the cause of the crash? Yeah this critical incident investigation is still ongoing, what that means is
03:20because a New South Wales police officer has died in the line of duty that there will be an internal
03:26investigation into what caused this crash. That will also be subject to review from the police watchdog, the
03:32Law Enforcement Conduct Commission who will carry oversight over that investigation. Police were asked at the
03:38press conference if there was any early indications of what might have caused this crash, they said it's too early
03:43in the investigation to comment on that. They did speak about police how they have an immunity to
03:50travel over the speed limit when they're under lights and sirens and attending a scene and putting
03:54their life on the line to look out for people's safety as well but they said they're still too early
04:00on and crash investigators are also part of this investigation now to really comment on the
04:06circumstances that may have caused this crash, Joe.
