Rider critically injured after allegedly fleeing police
Updated ,first published
A man riding an e-bike without a helmet is in a critical condition after crashing into a telegraph pole while running from police in Sydney’s southwest.
Officers attempted to stop the 39-year-old man after seeing him cycling without a helmet on Bungulla Street in Sadleir at around 11pm on Saturday.
Police claimed that after spotting officers, the driver drove away before crashing into a pole. The man was treated at the scene for serious injuries and was taken to Liverpool Hospital where he underwent surgery and remains in a critical but stable condition.
Police declared the crash a critical incident and launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident, overseen by the Police Service Commission.
Deputy Commissioner Brett McFadden said officers followed the driver for several streets and were “very close” to the man when he hit the pole.
The e-bike does not have pedals and is powered solely by the motor, McFadden said.
McFadden said the officers in the vehicle when the driver hit the pole had not been questioned as of noon Sunday.
McFadden said it’s unclear how fast the e-bike travels, but the impact with the pole is “significant.”
Both officers passed mandatory drug and alcohol testing. It is not yet known whether the vehicle was behind or next to the driver at the time of the accident.
The crash comes as emergency doctors welcome a crackdown on illegal e-bikes after several Sydney hospitals reported a two-fold increase in e-bike-related serious injuries.
Trauma doctors at St Vincent’s Hospital in Darlinghurst treated 200 patients for injuries sustained while riding e-bikes last year, new figures show.
Last week the Children’s Hospital at Westmead and Sydney Children’s Hospital at Randwick treated 35 children injured by e-bikes and e-scooters this year, ranging from scrapes and fractures to suspected spinal and serious head injuries.
There were at least five e-bike-related deaths in NSW last year. In July, 14-year-old boy died after falling off his bikeThe bike his parents bought online and believed to be an e-bike, but was actually closer to a motorcycle in structure. It was announced that a 65-year-old male pedestrian died after being hit by an e-bike in Toongabbie in October.
An e-bike rider in his 30s was killed in December In a collision with a garbage truck in Ultimo.
Under proposed new laws, police would be given powers to seize and crush illegal e-bikes amid growing concerns over the popularity of high-powered vehicles called “fat bikes”.
The state government will also introduce technology that will allow police to conduct roadside tests to determine whether e-bikes exceed power limits.
New portable “dyno units” that measure a vehicle’s power output will be used to determine whether an e-bike’s power assist has been cut off at 25 kilometers per hour, the legal limit in NSW.
