00:01Police have described this as a terrible tragedy and a dark day for the New South Wales Police
00:07Force as they lost to one of their own early this morning in Sydney's south. We understand
00:1220-year-old constable Mia Lay was in the passenger seat of a marked police car and that car was
00:19travelling towards Glebe responding to an alleged car theft. Now police say they were travelling
00:25with lights and sirens on to attend that call out when they say the car crashed into a tree.
00:31It killed 20-year-old Mia Lay and injured her 24-year-old driver, a male constable who suffered
00:38facial wounds and is being treated in hospital. We understand he is in a stable condition.
00:44We heard from police about how this has just affected the police community and the policing
00:50family and even at some stages the police commissioner Mal Lanyon appeared emotional
00:55as he spoke about the dedicated career of Mia Lay which was cut so terribly short, only 16 months
01:02in the force. We understand that she attended her attestation ceremony at the Goulburn Police Academy
01:08where she graduated in May last year, had been stationed at the South Sydney Police Area Command
01:14and she looked up to her auntie who worked at the State Crime Command in Parramatta. She was somewhat
01:20of a mentor to her and then also her partner worked at the New South Wales Police Force. Here's Police
01:26Commissioner Mal Lanyon paying tribute to Mia Lay and speaking about the kind of person she was.
01:32There is nothing I can say easily that takes the pain away but please know that Mia was a loved
01:38police
01:38officer. Mia had been in the New South Wales Police for 16 months. She showed exceptional promise and was
01:46well loved through the South Sydney Police Area Command. She would have been an outstanding police
01:52officer and to lose her life both in its prime and just at the infancy of becoming a police officer
01:58is a terrible tragedy. To Mia, thank you for your courage. Thank you for choosing to join the New South
02:05Wales Police Force
02:06and thank you for serving the community of New South Wales. You will not be forgotten.
02:12You can really hear the pain in the Police Commissioner's voice there speaking about
02:16Mia Lay and we heard from the Police Minister Yasmin Catley and Deputy Commissioner Dave Hudson who spoke
02:22to Mia's family this morning. They say they are nothing but grateful for the police's support. Just spoke
02:28about how Mia Lay had only returned from a holiday. She was in the prime of her life and was
02:33having the great
02:34time working for the New South Wales Police Force. Now crash investigators remain at the seat at Gibbons
02:40Street where that has remained cordoned off for several hours now. They're still trying to figure out
02:45exactly what happened and police couldn't give us too much details about what caused this crash but they
02:50say they are investigating this thoroughly and this has all been subject to a critical investigation
02:55critical incident investigation as well which means that will be reviewed by the police watchdog as well.
03:00So
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