Grant Charles EASTES

New South Wales Police Force

Regd. #  18467

Joined via NSW Police Cadets on 4 July 1977

Cadet # 3345

Class 161 of 1978

Rank:  NSW Police Cadet – started 4 July 1977

Probationary Constable – appointed 9 February 1979

Senior Constable – appointed 9 February 1988

Stations:  Manly ( 1978 ), Narrabri HWP, Lismore District Accident Investigation Squad

Service:  From  4 July 1977  to  13 January 1990 = 12+ years Service

Awards:  No find on It’s An Honour

Born:  Tuesday  9 February 1960

Died:  Saturday  13 January 1990

Age:  29 yrs 11 mths 4 days

Cause:  Illness – Suicide – overdose – P.T.S.D.

at Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Qld

Funeral  date: ?

Funeral location:

Buried at: Casino Lawn Cemetery

Memorial location:

Grant IS mentioned on the Police Wall of Remembrance

On 13 January, 1990 Senior Constable Eastes took his own life in a Brisbane Motel. On 20 October, 1989 he had been one of the first police to arrive on the scene of the horrific bus crash upon the Pacific Hwy, Cowper, ( commonly referred to as the Grafton bus crash ) in which twenty one people died and twenty two more were injured. At the time it was the worst road accident in Australia’s history. Following the accident the senior constable reported off duty on sick report, suffering from Acute Post Traumatic Shock Syndrome.

The constable was born in 1960 and joined the New South Wales Police Force as a Cadet on the 4 July, 1977. At the time of his death he was attached to the Lismore District Accident Investigation Squad.

From the book, Picking up the pieces by Don Woodland, Simon Bouda:  page 159

[blockquote]It was during that time that I had a lengthy conversation with a highway patrol officer, Grant Eastes.  I could sense that this man was in quite a bad way, finding it hard to cope.  It was just his attitude, what he was saying, how he expressed how he was feeling.  As we talked he brought up all these other incidents on the highway that he’d attended in recent months.  I was so concerned that I mentioned the conversation to some senior police officers and later, Major Errol Woodbury, who was one of the State’s senior police chaplains at the time.[/blockquote]

From the book, Picking up the pieces by Don Woodland, Simon Bouda:  page 164

[blockquote]

A postscript to the Grafton tragedy.  Three months after the accident, 29 year old Senior Constable Grant Eastes, the officer I was so concerned about on the night of the tragedy, was found dead in a motel room in the Brisbane suburb of Fortitude Valley.  He’d taken an overdose of pills.

Grant’s father Ken told journalists his son’s life had been destroyed by the sight of the dead and injured at the Grafton bus crash scene.

I’m afraid to say his suicide didn’t surprise me.  Here was a crash investigation officer who had witnessed a real slathering of fatal accidents up and down that highway.  The bus crash was the catalyst for his suicide. It was just too much.

[/blockquote]

http://books.google.com.au/books?id=PhJj1DhGp_QC&pg=PA164&lpg=PA164&dq=senior+constable+grant+eastes&source=bl&ots=CC_3-fhxn-&sig=ZMIjSgfrs8ypwFb6oMkw62eCaz4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=LOHTUsrcEIXTkQX324DADQ&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=senior%20constable%20grant%20eastes&f=false