{"id":15740,"date":"2026-05-21T09:17:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T09:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/15740\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T09:17:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T09:17:13","slug":"woman-dies-after-being-struck-by-police-car-in-cairns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/15740\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman dies after being struck by police car in Cairns"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 71-year-old woman has died after being hit by a police car in Cairns this morning.<\/p>\n

Police said a police vehicle collided with the Trinity Beach woman at the intersection of Lily and Sheridan Streets around 7am.<\/p>\n

Officers rendered immediate medical assistance and the woman was transported to Cairns Hospital where she was later declared dead, police said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The police car is towed away after the incident. (ABC Far North: Rosanne Maloney)<\/p>\n

Lily Street between Digger and Sheridan Streets remained closed throughout the morning while declared a crime scene, but have since reopened.<\/p>\n

Speaking to media in Brisbane, Regional Operations Deputy Commissioner John Tims said investigations were underway to determine “exactly how this incident has occurred”.<\/p>\n

“There will be a full, thorough investigation by Ethical Standards Command with the oversight by the Crime and Corruption Commission and the coroner,” he said.<\/p>\n

At the time of the crash, there were two senior constables and one sergeant in the car, he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

John Tims says his sympathies go out to the family and friends of the woman killed. (ABC News: Tobi Loftus)<\/p>\n

Deputy Commissioner Tims extended his sympathies to the woman’s family and friends.<\/p>\n

“This is an incredible, sad loss and has changed the life of a family forever,” he said.<\/p>\n

“This is also being felt by the officers involved and the QPS as a whole.”<\/p>\n

In a statement posted to social media, the Queensland Police Union of Employees said it was “providing legal and support services to members involved in an operational incident in Cairns this morning”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Shane Prior says the accident was captured on dash cam. (ABC News: Tobi Loftus)<\/p>\n

Police have appealed for witnesses or anyone with dash cam footage to come forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Queensland Police Union president Shane Prior said it was a “terrible set of circumstances”.<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

“At the time of the incident police were attempting to apprehend an offender,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I am advised that lights on the police vehicle were activated at the time and the entire incident has been recorded on dash cam footage.”<\/p>\n

Look back at how ABC readers and other Australians responded to this live
\n moment.<\/p>\n

Thu 21 May 2026 at 1:55pm<\/p>\n

Thu 21 May 2026 at 1:55pm<\/p>\n

That’s it from police<\/p>\n

Deputy Commissioner Tims has finished speaking, so we’ll wrap up our live moment here.<\/p>\n

You can catch up on today’s developments as they happened below, or download the ABC News app.<\/p>\n

Thu 21 May 2026 at 1:55pm<\/p>\n

Thu 21 May 2026 at 1:55pm<\/p>\n

Family will get answers<\/p>\n

Deputy Commissioner Tims says the department will be able to provide answers to the deceased’s family once an investigation is complete.<\/p>\n

“Absolutely. The investigation will conclude and we will be able to speak with the family,” he says.<\/p>\n

“[We will] give them the information that we have.”<\/p>\n

He says the officers will face the same system as the public and recommendations and findings around police practices will be followed.<\/p>\n

Thu 21 May 2026 at 1:52pm<\/p>\n

Thu 21 May 2026 at 1:52pm<\/p>\n

‘If there’s something that needs to be changed, then it will be changed’<\/p>\n

“We’re always reviewing what we do every day, our policies and practices,” Deputy Commissioner Tims says.<\/p>\n

“From the investigation, there will be some recommendations and findings around our practices.”<\/p>\n

“If there’s something that needs to be changed, then it will be changed.”<\/p>\n

Show more<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 71-year-old woman has died after being hit by a police car in Cairns this morning. Police said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,11083,1044,15659,15660,1047],"class_list":["post-15740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-cairns","tag-car","tag-hit","tag-pedestrian","tag-police"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}