The son of our Police Commissioner

was killed in a hit-run incident on Friday evening. The news was not public when I wrote my blog post yesterday but it has now become public information. This morning it is spread across four pages of our state newspaper.

This 18yr old was at the "schoolies" event on the south coast of our state when it happened.  There is no reason at all to believe he was doing anything wrong. The other 18yr old who was driving did do something wrong. He did more than one thing wrong, very wrong. He is alleged to have been driving dangerously and without due care. He did not stop at the scene. Police caught up with him a little later. No doubt they had some help in finding him. This is one of those times when I could almost wish I had no imagination rather then too much. 

Both these boys, "young men" if you wish, should have had their entire lives ahead of them. One will no longer be with us. The other will almost certainly go on to a custodial sentence and then have to live with the knowledge that his behaviour has led to the death of another person.

Being the son of the Police Commissioner would be very, very difficult. I know something about always being expected to behave absolutely perfectly because of the position my father held. It was not always easy but it would have been much easier than being "the cop's kid". 

He was, in my very brief contact with him, a "good kid", "a nice lad". Like a lot of the other students from his school he would occasionally appear in the local shopping centre. On the occasion of my brief contact I was having a minor problem with the trike. It was caused by someone else's carelessness. He stopped and dealt with the problem without any fuss at all, gave me a smile and rushed off to catch up with his mates. They gave him a hard time about a "new girlfriend". He took their teasing in his stride. Someone needed help and he gave it.  A couple of times after that we exchanged smiles as we passed. Nothing was said. It was just a polite acknowledgment on his part.

I didn't even know his name or who he was until I saw a name with his photo in the news yesterday. He was simply "that good kid who helped when I needed it". And so I am mourning the loss of "a good kid", "a mate when I needed a hand".  I sat here thinking about the Whirlwind and tried not to cry because she would not want me to cry but there are times when it hits me. It is going to be so much harder for the Police Commissioner and his wife and their family, especially now. They will get their son's examination results soon. They might even get his offer of a place at whatever course he had decided on. It will all be "what might have been". 

Hug your family. You just never know what might happen.