Boy, 3, dies in foyer of police station after crash south of Brisbane

2 hours ago 2

A three-year-old boy has died in the foyer of a police station south of Brisbane after being in a car crash with his family, while his father allegedly fled the scene in what is being treated as a domestic violence incident.

The boy was brought to the Beenleigh Police Station after a crash on the northern Gold Coast in which his mother urged another motorist to take her to the police.

The family were driving along Burnside Road in Ormeau when their Mazda veered off the road into bushland shortly before 5am.

The crash occurred at Ormeau on the Gold Coast.

Detective Acting Superintendent Mark Mooney said the 24-year-old father, who allegedly left the crash scene with the boy’s one-year-old brother, had been charged with breaching a temporary protection order that had been in place.

“My understanding is, the mother when she flagged down the witness, or the witness stopped to support them ... she asked to be taken to the Beenleigh Police Station,” Mooney said.

“So the driver’s just immediately driven there, not asking too many questions, and she’s rang triple 0 en route probably because it was the closest available facility.”

The family arrived at Beenleigh Police Station following the crash.

When the 22-year-old mother and the driver arrived at the station, the toddler was unresponsive, Mooney said.

“He was in a bad medical way prior to arrival at the police station,” Mooney said.

“As soon as he arrived, police immediately commenced CPR and the mother had called triple-0 prior to arrival.”

Officers tried to perform CPR, but he died in the station’s foyer after suffering a head injury, police said.

Police said a 24-year-old Beenleigh man, believed to have also been in the vehicle, left the crash scene with the one-year-old child before officers arrived. Mooney said higher charges of manslaughter or murder were not off the table, and police were still investigating.

The man was found at another address in Beenleigh about 6.30am, and the boy was taken to hospital for treatment, police said. The one-year-old boy did not suffer serious injuries, Mooney said.

Mooney said the mother currently had a temporary protection order in place, and the father had been charged for breaching it.

He said the pair had been in a relationship for a number of years, but had been separated for 12 months.

Mooney said investigators were working to determine how the crash occurred, and confirmed there were two child seats in the car.

“We understand the mother and the two children have travelled up from the Gold Coast early in the morning, arriving at the Coral Street address where they collected the male,” he said.

Mooney urged anyone with dashcam footage or other information that may help to come forward.

In a press conference on Saturday afternoon, Health Minister Tim Nicholls offered his sympathies to the families of the loved ones involved.

“Advice I’ve received this morning from the Queensland Ambulance Service … is that it was quite a horrific circumstance that they were presented with [at the Beenleigh Police Station].

“Many thanks to the first responders for the terrific and often unheralded work that they do that has a terrible impact on them and their loved ones as well.

“Domestic violence is the scourge of our community.”