A motorist was hit by a police motorbike rider during the high-speed police chase that led to the recapture of escaped prisoner Patrick McCurley, according to a private ambulance operator who stopped to help the driver.
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The police motorcyclist didn't stop after hitting the car, but continued on the chase, travelling on the wrong side of the Federal Highway north of Watson.
The private ambulance operator, Michael Rigo, was travelling in the opposite direction, south on the Federal Highway towards Watson just before 6pm, when he said an "armada" of police vehicles sped past him, travelling north in one of the southbound lanes of the divided highway.
A few moments later, he was flagged down to help a motorist who was stopped on the side of the road and saying she had been hit by a police vehicle.
The woman, who Mr Rigo said he believed was a young P-plate driver, had been pulling out to pass a car in front when she had been hit by the police motorcyclist. Mr Rigo said the encounter caused damage to the back of her car, with the bumper hanging loose.
"This person was hit and nobody from the pursuit stopped. She was emotionally very, very distraught," he said.
There was a police officer on the scene within minutes. He called an ambulance, but Mr Rigo said the ambulance took just over an hour to arrive. Mr Rigo's version of events is corroborated by his partner in the private ambulance, Michael Hourigan, who has recorded the times of events.
Mr Rigo owns Ambulance Service Australia, a private ambulance service that has an ongoing argument with the ACT government over patient transport rules. It is licensed and provides ambulance services to events such as Summernats, but is not allowed to transport patients outside events, despite interest from Calvary Hospital in using the service for non-urgent patient transport. In the ACT, all patient transfers are all done by the government-owned ambulance service.
At the scene of the police chase on Sunday, September 4, Mr Rigo said he wasn't able to transport the woman, but instead waited with her. After 20 minutes, Mr Hourigan called the ambulance to check where it was and was told a crew had been dispatched from Fyshwick seven minutes earlier. With no one there after another 23 minutes and the woman complaining of neck pain, they called again and were told the ambulance had been diverted. A few minutes later they were told an ambulance had been sent from Gungahlin. It arrived about 7pm.
The Ambulance Service said it was alerted to reports of an accident at the intersection of the Federal Highway and Majura Lane at 6.22pm on the day.
It was told a 20-year-old woman at the scene had no visible injuries.
On the basis of the information received, the job was classified as not immediately life threatening so did not require an immediate lights and siren response. An ambulance subsequently responded to the scene at 6.48 and arrived at 7.01pm, a spokesman said. The woman was taken to Calvary Hospital for assessment.
ACT Policing would not comment on the suggestion that a police motorcyclist had failed to stop at the scene, saying only, "As this is currently before the court, it is not appropriate to comment on this matter. All pursuits conducted in the ACT are reviewed by the driver incident review committee".
