Hanrick, Caitlyn
Deceased
Caitlin Myfanwy Hanrick
Demographics
13y, female
Date of death
2006-12-05
Finding date
2009-07-17
Cause of death
Traumatic brain and internal injuries sustained when struck by a motor vehicle during a police pursuit
AI-generated summary
Caitlin Hanrick, aged 13, was struck by a stolen vehicle being pursued by police on 4 December 2006 while crossing a pedestrian crossing at Redcliffe State High School. She died from traumatic brain and internal injuries. The coroner found that the pursuing officers failed to comply with Queensland Police Service pursuit policy in multiple ways: they miscategorised the pursuit, failed to properly communicate risks to the pursuit controller, and failed to terminate the pursuit despite numerous dangerous incidents suggesting unacceptable risk. The pursuit proceeded for 4 minutes over 3.4 km, passing through school zones and populated areas. While the driver's dangerous criminal behaviour was the direct cause, the officers' failure to terminate the pursuit when policy required contributed to the death. The coroner noted the officers ignored principles that safety was paramount and should have terminated the pursuit well before the collision.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Error types
Drugs involved
Contributing factors
- Failure to properly categorise the pursuit under QPS policy
- Failure to communicate all relevant risk information to the pursuit controller
- Failure to terminate the pursuit despite numerous dangerous incidents
- Inadequate notification of the pursuit commencement
- Pursuit controller's passive oversight and failure to proactively manage the pursuit
- Officers' failure to apply risk assessment criteria during the pursuit
- Dangerous driving of the pursued vehicle by Ms Coolwell
- Vehicle in poor mechanical condition with ineffective brakes
- Driver of pursued vehicle impaired by cannabis use
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