By Riley Walter and Sally Rawsthorne
A man killed when he was hit by a NSW Police car while riding a hire e-bike in inner-city Sydney had $10,000 and a “significant” amount of illicit drugs on him at the time, police say, but the incident was not captured on bodyworn camera, and it is unclear why the rider was being pulled over.
A critical incident investigation has been launched into the circumstances surrounding the man’s death and the actions of the officer involved, an acting sergeant attached to the South Sydney Police Area Command.
An e-bike rider has been killed in a collision with a police car in inner-city Sydney.Credit: Nine News
The state’s policing watchdog, the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission, will oversee the critical incident investigation, being led by officers from the Sutherland Shire Police Area Command, as well as an independent review of the incident by the NSW Police’s Professional Standards Command.
Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna said the officer involved was alone in the patrol car when he tried to pull over the rider, aged 48, on Allen Street in Waterloo at around 3am on Friday. The police car involved appeared to have mounted the kerb and flattened a parking sign before crossing over a footpath.
The officer driving the car left the vehicle and rendered immediate first aid to the man, McKenna said. NSW Ambulance paramedics treated the 48-year-old at the scene, but he could not be revived.
McKenna did not answer questions about why the man may have been pulled over, details which will form part of the critical incident investigation, or why the patrol car had travelled so far off the street.
“I don’t know what the officer’s intent was at the time but that will all form part of the investigation,” McKenna told reporters on Friday morning. It was standard procedure for supervising officers to travel alone in patrol cars, he said.
He said officers’ bodyworn cameras were typically not recording while they were driving and that general duties patrol cars were not fitted with dashcams, leaving detectives to canvas the area around the Allen Street crime scene for any CCTV that may have captured the incident.
“If anyone out there has any footage at all, whether it be dashcam footage or anything around that time of the morning, please come forward personally,” McKenna said.
Police had allegedly tried to stop the rider before the collision.Credit: Nine News
McKenna said $10,000 in cash and about three ounces of what was believed to be methamphetamine had been found on the man. The methamphetamine had a street value of between $30,000 and $40,000, McKenna said. It is unclear if the officer involved suspected the man was in possession of the drugs when he tried to pull him over.
“In normal circumstances, if we found that amount of drugs and cash on anyone, we would allege that it was for the purpose of supply,” he said.
The man’s next of kin, who live interstate, were notified of his death on Friday morning.
Anyone with information about the incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. A report is being prepared for a coroner.
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clarification
An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that the deceased man was Indigenous, based on information publicly provided by police at a media conference.