Ambulance report contradicts Daniel Andrews’ claim about 2013 car crash that nearly killed teen bike rider
A newly unearthed ambulance report has contradicted Dan Andrews’ claims about a 2013 car accident involving his wife and a cyclist.
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A newly unearthed ambulance report has contradicted Daniel Andrews’ long-held claims about a 2013 car accident on the Mornington Peninsula that nearly killed a teenage cyclist.
Mr Andrews, then Victorian opposition leader, was in the family Ford Territory being driven by his wife Catherine when it and a bike being ridden by 15-year-old Ryan Meuleman collided.
The collision took place near the Melbourne Rd and Ridley St intersection in Blairgowrie about 1.30pm on January 7, 2013.
The teen suffered a punctured lung, broken ribs, internal bleeding and was left with 10 per cent of his spleen. He spent 11 days in The Royal Children’s Hospital.
Ms Andrews wasn’t breathalysed after the crash, and Mr Meuleman wasn’t given the opportunity to give a statement to police.
The Premier and his wife have consistently held that Mr Meuleman was at fault, with Mr Andrews telling reporters in 2017 that the teen was “moving at speed” when he “absolutely T-boned the car”.
But a bombshell document obtained by the Herald Sun on Friday, made by Ambulance Victoria paramedics who attended the crash scene, is at odds with the couple’s claims that they came to a “complete stop” and “turned right from a stationary position” moments before the collision.
The “Patient Care Report” reads, “15YO on bike. Struck on L side by car travelling 40 to 60kmh … PT onto bonnet, then onto windscreen which cracked on impact … thrown onto roadway.”
The document has only now been uncovered as part of escalating legal action by Mr Meuleman, now 25.
“The serious injuries to the left side of Ryan’s body and the observations made by the ambulance officers who attended the crash are completely inconsistent with the claims to police made by Mr Andrews and his wife that their vehicle was travelling at a low speed,” barrister Daryl Dealehr told the Herald Sun.
“The evidence appears completely at odds with what Daniel and Catherine Andrews have been claiming since the collision.”
The newspaper first revealed late last year, prior to the November state election, that Mr Meuleman had engaged lawyers to re-examine the incident and the circumstances surrounding the subsequent investigation and legal settlement.
The ambulance report was not contained in the files initially handed over by law firm Slater & Gordon in November.
The Herald Sun reports the Meulemans are now seeking pre-trial discovery against Slater & Gordon and the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) in a bid to uncover further “missing” documents.
Mr Meuleman was paid $80,000 by the TAC after the accident, but his family have raised “concerns” over the process.
Both his parents insist they never engaged Slater & Gordon, a Labor-aligned law firm, to represent their son after the crash, and the firm has refused to reveal how it came to be involved.
“I hadn’t seen this report until a week ago,” Mr Meuleman told the Herald Sun.
“The lawyers never showed it to me. They just told me to agree to the deal and kind of, you know, shut up. I was 15 years old, mate. I was a kid. Seriously, I was 15. I am pretty blown away to be honest. I just wish I had it to show everyone 10 years ago. It would have changed everything. People would have known that they hit me, not the other way around.”
In 2017, the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission investigated the police response to the crash, including the failure not to use a breathalyser after the crash.
Mr Andrews and his wife were not formally interviewed until nearly a month after the incident.
Secret police photographs obtained by the Herald Sun in November revealed the extent of the damage to the car.
In his February 5, 2013 signed statement, Mr Andrews said, “We had turned right from a stationary position into Ridley St. Moments after we turned, a cyclist collided heavily with the side of our vehicle … the cyclist was travelling at speed and hit our car at a perfect right angle very heavily. I want to make it clear — the cyclist hit our vehicle.”
Catherine Andrews said in her statement, “I turned from Melbourne Rd after coming to a complete stop … just after we turned into Ridley St our car was struck heavily on the front driver’s side by a cyclist who it seems was attempting to cross Ridley St at speed from the bike path.”
During a press conference in November after news broke of Mr Meuleman’s fresh claims, the Premier batted away more than 15 questions from reporters.
“I’ve got nothing further to say,” Mr Andrews said.
Reached for comment on Friday, a spokeswoman for the Premier said the matter had been “dealt with” by Tourism Minister Steve Dimopoulos at that morning’s press conference.
“This is over a decade old,” Mr Dimopoulos told reporters.
“The most appropriate authorities have investigated this thoroughly and have made no adverse findings. Beyond that, the Premier himself has answered questions on this almost as many times as he’s answered questions on Covid. This has been thoroughly examined and I really don’t have any more to say.”
Originally published as Ambulance report contradicts Daniel Andrews’ claim about 2013 car crash that nearly killed teen bike rider
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