NSW: Rush to get dying man to doctor delayed by speed cop

AAP General News (Australia)
08-30-1999
NSW: Rush to get dying man to doctor delayed by speed cop

SYDNEY, Aug 30 AAP - A woman rushing her dying husband to a doctor claimed she was delayed
by an overzealous highway patrol officer who gave her a speeding ticket.

The policeman also appeared reluctant to believe her husband was terminally ill, the
unnamed woman from the New South Wales Hunter Valley said today.

Her husband died in Singleton Hospital the next day, in severe pain, suffering cancer
complicated by pneumonia.

While the policeman tried to cancel the penalty after learning of the death, the woman was
notified 24 hours after the incident that she had been fined $506 and suspended from driving
for a month.

The ticket alleged she had been travelling at 134km/h in a 100km/h zone along the Golden
Highway between Denman and Singleton last Tuesday.

The woman, who today told her story to Sydney talkback radio host John Laws, claimed the
policeman - deliberately or otherwise - took his time issuing her with the ticket.

Senior police, including Hunter Local Area Commander Terry Collins, said today they were
satisfied the officer had not behaved improperly.

However, it is believed a police audio recording of the incident will be examined as part
of an inquiry into the matter.

The highway patrolman had been "devastated" by the experience and was undergoing
professional counselling, a police spokesman said.

According to a police statement the officer had been cruising back and forth along a black
spot on the highway when he clocked the woman's car travelling at dangerously high speed.

The spokesman said while the officer had been concerned about the woman placing others at
risk, he had also offered to transport the ill man to hospital himself, call an ambulance or
at least provide a police escort.

The woman had refused the assistance on the basis that she had already taken 20 minutes to
get her husband into her own car in the first place, he said.

In the end, she was simply allowed to drive on with a warning that she would receive the
infringement notice by mail.

The fine and the suspension have since been cancelled.

AAP jk/sb/ah

KEYWORD: SPEEDING

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