CCTV footage has captured the moments before the patrol car carrying Constable Mia Lay smashed into a tree in Sydney’s inner-south, instantly killing the 20-year-old police officer and hospitalising the car’s driver, Constable Brandon Torrisi.
Lay was killed when the marked police car in which she was a passenger crashed in Redfern during an urgent response to a reported vehicle theft in nearby Glebe about 1.30am on Friday.
Security camera footage from a nail salon less than 200 metres from the crash site shows the Volkswagen Tiguan patrol car bursting down Gibbons Street, sirens and lights blaring, before the fatal accident.
Mia’s father, Clem Lay, told the Herald that after his initial anger, he was relieved that Torrisi, his daughter’s fellow officer, had survived the crash.
“I want [Mia] to be remembered by as many as possible for as long as possible,” he said. “Everyone that she touched in her life has paid tribute.”
Clem told Nine News he hoped there was “no one at fault” for the crash that killed his daughter, saying that the immense loss his family is experiencing still hadn’t hit home.
Mourners have filled the site of the crash with flowers and tributes to Lay. Former colleagues and schoolmates of Lay were among those who left written tributes to the officer.
One mourner tied the NSW Police badge to the tree with a scarf bearing the colours of the police uniform, while others brought shirts bearing the insignia of APIA Leichhardt, Lay’s former football club.
Police Minister Yasmin Catley didn’t weigh in on speculation Monday that Torrisi, 24, may have reached speeds surpassing 150km/h when the crash occurred, saying officers were entrusted with determining how quick they travel when they’re attending an urgent call.
“Police make those decisions, but the investigation will determine if that’s the case,” she said.
The NSW Law Enforcement Conduct Commission is overseeing the police investigation of the crash as it determines the circumstances leading to Lay’s death.
The police watchdog can independently investigate the incident only once the police probe is complete.
Raphael Grzebieta, a road safety expert and professor emeritus at the University of NSW, said the nature of the collision – a “narrow offset” crash – meant the driver was further from the impact point.
“A road where the speed limit is set at 50km/h indicates a high risk of serious injury or fatality if a vehicle travels at any speed above that value,” Grzebieta said.
“What was the urgent danger that required them to travel at that speed? What was the urgent situation that required them to have those lights and sirens on?”
Jake Olivier, a professor of statistics at UNSW, said a car travelling above 50km/h – the speed limit on the stretch of Gibbons Street where Lay was killed – increased the risk of serious injury or death.
“In normal driving conditions, I do not see this road really being a problem because the posted speed is set at 50km/h but travelling greater than that does pose a risk,” said Olivier, deputy director of the university’s Transport and Road Safety Research Centre.
Olivier said hazards on the roadside, including trees, increased the likelihood of a fatal crash.
“That’s one of the reasons speed limits are set as they are,” he said.
Olivier, who has driven the route Lay took on Friday morning, said the right-hand curve in the road where the 20-year-old’s vehicle collided with the tree “comes out of nowhere”.
“It seems like it should be straight,” he said.
“Psychologically, you kind of feel like you’re going straight.”
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