CORONER FINDS PURSUIT PRIOR TO MOTOCYCLIST’S DEATH SHOULD’VE BEEN TERMINATED

A coroner has found the police pursuit of a motorcyclist who died after crashing into a sign in near Newcastle, should have been terminated.

40-year-old Scott Pickford was stopped for a random breathtest in Stockton on Boxing Day, 2012, but then sped away, before crashing on Masonite Road in Tomago.

He died a week later in hospital.

Deputy State Coroner Paul MacMahon says the two officers involved in the pursuit didn’t cause Mr Pickford’s death, but the chase should have been terminated once it entered Masonite Road, because of the risk to the community.