Police area appealing for any dashcam footage which may have recorded the crash involving a highway patrol car on the Kingsway at Cronulla yesterday.
Just before midday the police vehicle and a Mercedes Benz collided at the intersection of the Kingsway and Connels Road.
The driver of the Mercedes, a 68-year-old woman, was conveyed to St George Hospital where she remains in a in a critical condition.
The driver of the police vehicle, a 40-year-old male Senior Constable attached to the Central Metropolitan command, was treated for minor facial injuries and taken to hospital in a stable condition and released at 7pm yesterday.
Assistant Commissioner Michael Corboy said a critical incident investigation has been launched into the crash and the police driver involved in the crash would be interviewed some time today.
‘‘This is a tragic incident, a person is in hospital and that’s the last thing we want,” Assistant Commissioner Corboy said.
‘‘Our thoughts go out to the family of the injured women.
‘‘We will be getting this investigation done as soon as we can so we can get information to the family as soon as we can.”
Assistant Commissioner Corboy said investigating officers were examining police in-car video and some dash cam footage but were urging anyone with footage to come forward.
“We are asking for anyone who has dashcam footage that has recorded the crash or the lead-up to the crash on dashcam to please contact Crime Stoppers or NSW police.”
One witness posted on the Leader’s Facebook page that speed had been a factor.
“I witnessed this earlier. It was a horrendous crash. It happened just a few meters from the bosses house. Cop car was flying at the time. Going way too fast,” Dave Moller said.
Witnesses speaking with Seven News said they believe the police car was travelling at high speed along the Kingsway when the Mercedes attempted a right turn. The police car then slammed into the driver's side of the Mercedes, critically injuring the woman.
Another witness said: "I didn't hear any screeching tyres or sirens."
Mr Corboy said police had received a number of different versions of this crash and investigations were still in the very early stages and would not confirm whether the police car was “under lights and sirens” at the time of the crash.
“We will be interviewing the driver as soon as possible and we’ll be interviewing the other witnesses concerned and we’ll be reviewing the dashcam footage which has been given to us today by a number of independent people,” he said
‘We’re looking at everything in relation to this investigation. We’re looking at where the Mercedes was in the crash, we’re looking at the speed of the police vehicle, we’re looking at the lights and sirens
Mr Corboy confirmed NSW police were conducting Operation Compliance in the Cronulla area at the time of the crash.
“While they were working on the Kingsway in the shire a report of a person using a mobile phone [while driving] was conveyed to a Central Metropolitan highway patrol vehicle,’ he said.
‘‘That highway patrol vehicle proceeded on the Kingsway to pursue that vehicle and in doing so collided with a Mercedes Benz being driven by a 68-year-old woman who had a 2-year-old infant in the car.’’
The two-year-old boy was uninjured and taken to St George Hospital as a precaution.
