By JO-MARIE BROWN
A police car may have driven through a pedestrian "cross now" signal before killing a 3-year-old girl in a pushchair.
Police say the driver, a civilian support staff member, was running a police errand at the time of the accident in New Plymouth yesterday.
Paulette Keightley, aged 30, was pushing her daughter, Michaela Kathryn Keightley, in the pushchair across the crossing at the intersection of Courtenay and Eliot Sts about 11 am.
Senior Sergeant Doug Geraghty said the police car had stopped at the traffic lights at the corner, where turning vehicles give way to pedestrians.
It turned left when the lights went green.
"The speed would have been below 5 km/h," he said.
Inspector Don Allan said the pedestrian "cross now" signal appeared to have been operating at the time.
"This fatality is a tragedy for all those concerned and will be fully investigated."
Paulette Keightley, who was treated for minor injuries at Taranaki Base Hospital, was too distraught to speak yesterday.
She has not yet made a statement to police.
Michaela's father, Bryan Keightley, drove down from Auckland, where he works.
"I'm not even sure what's happened myself," he told the Weekend Herald.
"I just want Michaela to be left alone."
Witness Wayne Sattler, who was the driver of a vehicle stopped at the lights in Eliot St, said he watched the patrol car as it turned left from Courtenay St.
"The lady pushing the little girl in the pushchair walked across in front of me.
"He hit the lady and the child. The lady was tossed across the bonnet and rolled over the driver's mudguard.
"Then the Commodore lurched as it bumped over the pushchair," said Mr Sattler.
"The mother was running around hysterically. I comforted her and someone else appeared and picked up the little girl and put her on the footpath."
The Police Complaints Authority, Judge Neville Jaine, said there would be a full investigation.
Deputy authority judge Ian Borrin will arrive in New Plymouth early next week to run the inquiry.
Judge Jaine said New Plymouth police might carry out their own investigation to determine the role of the driver.
Police National Headquarters said there had been no fatal accidents involving a collision with a marked police vehicle in the past year, but there had been two fatal accidents involving police pursuits since January 1999.
Police Minister George Hawkins was briefed on the accident yesterday afternoon and said he would follow the matter through.
"The whole thing is a tragedy for the family of the little girl. But the police will go through all the normal procedures for when a police vehicle is involved in a crash."
Mr Hawkins said he was unsure whether it was common for non-sworn staff to drive marked police vehicles.
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