The Northern Territory coroner has cleared police of wrongdoing over a car crash that killed three Indigenous people on Christmas Day in 2019.
While describing the triple fatality as an "immense tragedy", the coroner rejected calls from the family of the deceased that the deaths should be considered as Aboriginal deaths in custody.
The three people, known for cultural reasons as D Wongaway, D Mumu and S Wongaway, died after the car they were travelling in was clipped by a ute when they were travelling at speeds estimated to be faster than 100kph on a suburban Alice Springs street.
They all lived in Imanpa, between Alice Springs and Uluru, and were in the town visiting family for Christmas.
D and S Wongaway were siblings and D Mumu was S Wongaway's partner.
The trio drove past a marked police car in the early evening of Christmas Day.
The police car was equipped with a numberplate scanner which flagged the trio's Mitsubishi Outlander as unregistered.
The two officers in the car did a U-turn and began trying to catch up to the Outlander, when it began dangerously overtaking vehicles, crossing into the oncoming traffic lane and also passing cars on the left-hand side.
The driver, D Wongaway, had a blood-alcohol reading of 0.24 per cent, which the coroner said was the reason he did not want to be pulled over.
Deaths did not happen in custody: coroner
During last year's coronial inquest, the family's lawyer argued the deaths should be considered as Aboriginal deaths in custody, but Coroner Greg Cavanagh rejected that call.
"In this case the police had not sought to exert any form of control," he wrote in his findings.
The family's lawyer also argued that police should not try to intercept unregistered cars but rather follow up with owners at a later date.
But Mr Cavanagh said that would not have worked in this case, as D Wongaway had only recently bought the car and the registration had not yet been transferred.
The findings urged NT Police to consider ways to reduce the risk of roadside stops.
"But it should also be remembered that the police turning their vehicle and attempting to close the gap to the deceased's vehicle was not the proximate cause of these deaths," the coroner wrote.
"The more so because the chain of events commenced over a relatively insignificant regulatory breach — the vehicle being unregistered."
The family of the deceased were not at the brief court hearing in Alice Springs where the findings were published.
