Madeo, Niceta Maria
Deceased
Niceta Maria Madeo
Demographics
82y, female
Date of death
2006-06-20
Finding date
2009-03-26
Cause of death
Internal injuries sustained in a motor vehicle crash following a police pursuit
AI-generated summary
An 82-year-old woman, Niceta Maria Madeo, died from internal injuries sustained when a stolen vehicle being pursued by police lost control and collided with her stationary car in Proserpine's central business district. The driver of the stolen vehicle, a 16-year-old, engaged in extremely dangerous driving—crossing double white lines, overtaking on blind corners at speeds up to 150 km/h on wet roads—after police initiated pursuit. The coroner found that police officers failed to comply with Queensland Police Service pursuit policy by not abandoning the pursuit when the driver's reckless conduct created unacceptable risk to public safety. Specifically, the pursuing officer and pursuit controller failed to conduct adequate ongoing risk assessments and did not order pursuit abandonment despite clear indicators of extreme danger. While not blaming individual officers for willful misconduct, the coroner concluded that policy non-compliance increased the likelihood of fatal outcome.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Contributing factors
- Police pursuit continuation despite dangerous driving by suspect vehicle
- Failure to abandon pursuit when driver demonstrated reckless conduct
- Failure by pursuing officer to conduct adequate ongoing risk assessment
- Failure by pursuit controller to order abandonment despite clear indicators of extreme danger
- Dangerous driving by 16-year-old driver fleeing police at speeds up to 150 km/h
- Wet road conditions
- High volume of traffic on highway
- Collision with parked vehicle prior to fatal crash, damaging steering mechanism of pursued vehicle
Coroner's recommendations
- Further recommendations regarding police pursuit policy deferred pending consideration of evidence from all seven deaths following police pursuits between June 2005 and December 2006
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