Parents want answers
Hopes a coroner’s inquest will fill ‘gaping holes’.
Grieving parents of a teenager killed in a motorcycle accident have laid a complaint with the Independent Police Conduct Authority alleging investigation failures by Counties Manukau police.
Brody Sutherland, 17, was killed after coming off his Ducati at a Flat Bush intersection. He swerved to avoid a car that pulled out in front of him on the night of April 11, 2014.
Although the driver of that car, Samuel Young, missed Brody, a driver coming up the flush median to make a right turn hit Brody, killing him.
The crash site was just blocks from Brody’s parents’ home, and they rushed to the crash immediately, only to be prevented from seeing their only son, who had by then died.
Police “shooed” them away from the ambulance, Maria and Brett Sutherland claim. They’ve labelled the ensuing police investigation inadequate and slow.
Five months after the crash police charged Young with careless driving causing death, and he was convicted more than two years later.
The court heard at the time that Brody was thought to be speeding, and Judge Jane Lovell-Smith said Young had exercised a “high degree of carelessness” by pulling out in front of the teen.
A year on from the sentencing, the Sutherlands are hoping a coroner’s inquest will answer their questions and plug what they say are “gaping holes” in information available to them.
The Sutherlands have stacks of documents, having spent years battling with police to obtain the police file. They have created a map of the crash site, read and reread witness statements, and hired a private detective who was unable to make any findings, because the police would not hand over the file until recently.
Among their complaints to the IPCA is twice being prevented from seeing Brody’s body, that his wallet was returned minus $20 he was seen putting inside it minutes before the crash, that key witnesses only gave detailed statements to police weeks after the crash, and that others weren’t asked for statements at all.
They were surprised that Brody’s phone and wallet were taken into evidence, but his jacket — featuring a tyre imprint which could have been vital evidence — was returned.
Most hurtful was coming across a police form where a constable had suggested to the morgue that the family should only be able to view Brody from behind a screen to stop Maria Sutherland touching his body.
“It was a road accident, for goodness’ sake,” she said.
“To not be allowed anywhere near him . . . walking away from him made me feel like I was abandoning him.”
Brett Sutherland described police as “secretive” and said the investigation and court process had been protracted.
Now, the family is hoping a coroner will agree to investigate.
Last month they filed a complaint with the IPCA. The Sutherlands are trying to understand the police explanation of the accident and want resolution to the differing accounts of the accident by witnesses.
Although coroners don’t have the power to review judicial decisions, they can question witnesses and make recommendations.
“Nothing is going to bring our son back but I still don’t think it’s right that the police . . . won’t answer our questions,” Maria Sutherland said.
The Ministry of Justice said a date for a possible inquest had not been set.
Police said they had not received formal notification of the complaint, and therefore could not comment.