Tragic story: police officer reveals what influences his attitude 'on the job'
A brave Queensland police officer, known only as Senior Constable Chris C, has revealed a heartbreaking story about his childhood which has influenced his attitude while 'on the job'.
The Senior Constable, who is now a driving instructor at the QPS Driving Skills Section, was just five-years-old when his youngest brother was hit by a car and died in Belfast.
Chris had been playing with a little red rubber ball with his two younger brothers, Matthew and Gregory, and friends outside their houses on that day in June 1980.
He believed the ball must have hit an uneven paving slab before shooting across the road and stopping on the other side.
That is when his youngest brother Gregory tried to collect the ball, running in between two parked cars and onto the road.
Senior Constable Chris C said, "I recall hearing a peculiar sound as my eyes were on my brother, watching him sliding to my left along the road.
"I can remember thinking that he was making a really loud noise as he was sliding. In retrospect, the noise I heard was the car braking and skidding to a halt."
The Senior Constable said it took him a moment to realise what was happening, before he ran home to tell his mother the terrible news.
"I remember her screaming and running out to the street," he recalled.
The now police driving instructor reveals he remembers a family member, his dad or uncle, returning with his brother's blood-stained clothes inside a brown paper bag.
"I remember his funeral. A tiny white coffin that did not need the usual six pallbearers, my mother being so grief-stricken that she needed to have the coffin opened during the ceremony so she could see his face one last time," said Senior Constable Chris C.
Senior Constable Chris C said he has never spoken directly to his mother about the events of that day in 1980.
"I have never known who the driver was, nor how their life changed as a result of that day – but I have no doubt that it would have," he said.
The Senior Constable said he would not say that the tragic accident made him choose his career, but he thinks it has influenced his attitude while at work.
"While never wanting to specialise in Road Policing, I have never hesitated in enforcing any traffic offences I have witnessed.
"My attitude is that, instead of giving ‘warnings’ and being a ‘nice police officer’, a ticket provides a more pertinent and lasting reminder that the roads can be a dangerous place," he said.
"It is easy to think of traffic enforcement as ‘stats collecting’ or ‘revenue raising’ but that’s not what enforcement is meant to achieve."
The Senior Constable said he believes the driver who struck and killed his brother had zero chance to avoid that outcome, "My brother wasn’t lingering on the road. As soon as he walked clear of the parked cars, he was dead."
"When I think of the innumerable distractions available to drivers today, I think road safety and enforcement are matters of increasing importance and need to be addressed."
The touching story was shared online by the Queensland Police Service as part of the #ridesafely4me blog.
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