Sydney: alcohol in off-duty cop’s car before he allegedly smashed into family ute, injuring toddler

An off-duty police officer has been arrested after he blew almost five times the legal limit after crashing his car into a ute, leaving a toddler injured.

The 25-year-old off-duty officer was charged with high-range PCA (Prescribed Concentration of Alcohol) following the crash in Ashcroft in Sydney‘s south-west on Wednesday.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said she doesn’t know ‘how you can defend’ the officer’s alleged crash. 

Empty cans and bottles of high-alcohol cider as well as beer, a cask of wine and a cooler were seen in the back seat of the constable’s Honda Accord.

A toddler in the Toyota HiLux he allegedly crashed into was taken to Liverpool Hospital as a precaution.

Empty can and bottles of beer and wine are seen in the back of a car that crashed into a ute in Sydney’s south-west on Wednesday

Police say the man is a probationary constable attached to a command within the South West Metropolitan Region.

He was taken to Liverpool Police Station where a breath analysis returned an alleged reading of 0.243.

Police Commissioner Karen Webb is ‘gravely concerned’ about the incident, saying the officer had only been in the force for four months.

His driver’s licence has been suspended and his job is on the line.

‘His employment status will be reviewed today,’ she told Sydney 2GB radio’s Ben Fordham on Thursday.

The matter will go before the court but the commissioner can take action to sack the officer without waiting for the outcome of the case.

A probationary police constable’s Honda Accord is seen after it allegedly crashed into a ute

Airbags are seen after a car crash in Sydney’s south-west on Wednesday afternoon

‘I don’t know how you’d defend it,’ Ms Webb said.

She said she cannot sack people on the spot, but there is ‘a lower threshold for probationary constables’. 

‘There’s a process – I’ve got to serve him papers, he gets a chance to respond but I can start all of that and intend to start all of that before the court matter comes up,’ she said.

The officer was issued a court attendance notice for high-range PCA and will appear in Liverpool Local Court on December 14.

The Police Commissioner says an officer will likely be removed from the force after being charged with drink driving.

A witness to the scene told 2GB that Troy there were lot of schoolchildren and parents around at the time of the crash as it happened near two schools.

More to come.