Police chase down Great Western Highway at Emu Plains lead to Andrew Tran’s death: coroner
A coronial inquest into the death of a man after his car was torn in two in western Sydney has found a police pursuit should have ended before it did.
Penrith
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A coronial inquest into the death of a man who drove a car 140km/h into oncoming traffic before crashing it in half has found the police’s pursuit should have ended earlier.
Police chased Andrew Tran, who also went by the name Andrew Ngo, in residential streets and deployed three spike strips as he sped into oncoming lanes throughout western Sydney.
The pursuit ended moments before Mr Tran’s car was torn clean in two, each half resting on opposite banks of the Great Western Highway at Emu Plains.
The Deputy State Coroner concluded the police pursuit did not conform to select protocols and contributed to the fateful outcome.
“I conclude that this pursuit should have been terminated at an earlier stage than it was,” Magistrate Elizabeth Ryan said.
“Had the pursuit been terminated at an earlier and more appropriate time, this may never have happened.”
Mr Tran, a 35-year-old who had warrants for disqualified driving and engaging in a police pursuit for his arrest, was driving a black Mitsubishi in Penrith on December 9, 2017, when he noticed police conducting random breath tests at different exits.
Senior Constable Barry Thurling randomly waved Mr Tran into the RBT at the Governors Drive exit, but he ignored the instructions and sped off towards the residential streets of Lapstone.
Senior Constable Thurling jumped in his police car and started a six-minute chase. In all, ten police cars had some involvement in the pursuit of Mr Tran, and three road spikes were deployed unsuccessfully.
During the pursuit, Senior Constable Thurling breached the NSW Police Force’s safe driving policy more than 20 times, and did not inform the dispatcher of his driving behaviour.
Mr Thurling defended his actions under testimony, saying he didn’t have another officer to help radio in details and so he had to focus on the pursuit.
The dispatcher testified he would have stopped the pursuit earlier — likely changing the outcome, the magistrate said — had he known about Senior Constable Thurling’s aggressive driving.
Towards the end of the pursuit, Mr Tran veered suddenly onto the exit ramp of the Great Western Highway, driving towards oncoming traffic. Mr Thurling slammed his brakes and tried to follow, but his car was “destroyed” when it hit a concrete median strip and caught alight.
The dispatcher then terminated the pursuit.
Mr Tran continued driving about 140km/h on the Great Western Highway, passing two other police cars along a 1.5km stretch, before he lost control, mounting a median strip and hitting a tree hard enough to slice the Mitsubishi in two halves.
Police “immediately commenced first aid” in an attempt to save his life, the court heard, while an off-duty nurse driving by pulled over to help. An ambulance rushed Mr Tran to Nepean Hospital, where he died shortly after arriving.
Mr Tran’s injuries — fractures to his skull, ribs, sacrum and pelvis; haemorrhages to the brain and acutely compressed abdominal organs — were not survivable. Toxicity tests identified the presence of methylamphetamine, morphine and alprazolam. They were “a significant contributing condition” to his death, the court heard.
The inquest of Andrew Tran was attended by his sister and her husband.
“The findings did give me closure,” Lein Issa said, Mr Tran’s sister. “I’ve been waiting two years to find out what happened and now we know the truth.”
Ms Ryan made two recommendations to the NSW Police Commissioner. They both concerned amending parts of the NSW Police Force’s safe driving policy for clarity.