Arabic version: وضع زهور تكريماً للشرطية ميا لاي في ريدفيرن

According to ABC News, family and friends of Constable Mia Lay gathered in Redfern and placed flowers at the site where the 20-year-old police officer died in a crash on Friday morning. Her father planted bright yellow flowers at the location.

Lay was responding to reports of a stolen car in nearby Glebe when she was travelling in the passenger seat of a marked police vehicle on Gibbons Street. The vehicle hit a tree near the intersection of Regent Street in the early hours of Friday, and she died at the scene. The 24-year-old driver suffered facial injuries, was taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and has since been discharged.

Daniel Vasquez, Lay’s partner and a member of the NSW Police Force, described her as “the happiest girl I’ve met” and said she would “always be in my heart”. Speaking on behalf of the family, he said Lay’s mother, Tamara, wanted people to know how much her daughter loved her work, saying she was happy in the police, good at her job and loved by the community.

Redfern resident Tim Cochran recalled Lay responding to an emergency earlier this year after he called Triple Zero for an unresponsive man in a park. He said she took control, got the man moving and responding, and appeared confident, competent and reassuring. NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said Lay had shown “exceptional promise” during her 16 months in the Force. The critical incident investigation, assisted by the Crash Investigations Unit, is ongoing.