Brother of Dale Wilson, killed in Normanville crash, shattered by ‘stupid decision’
The grieving brother of a young man who died while evading police at Normanville on Monday has visited the crash site, saying he died because of a “stupid decision”.
The brother of a young man who died in a fiery crash while trying to evade police on the Fleurieu Peninsula says his sibling’s “stupid decision” to flee authorities cost him his life.
It comes as Police Commissioner Grant Stevens backs the actions of the officers involved in the incident and flags a major new road safety campaign to tackle the state’s spiralling road toll.
Dale Wilson, 24, of Wirrina Cove, was driving an unregistered Holden Commodore when he slammed into a tree on Williss Drive at Normanville just after 3.30pm on Monday.
The car burst into flames on impact and Wilson died at the scene.
Matt Wilson visited the crash site on Tuesday morning and said his brother’s life ended over a “stupid decision” because he would have been “scared of going to jail”.
“I know my brother that well that he would’ve been scared and he ran,” Mr Wilson said.
“If he had’ve just pulled over it would’ve saved his life. (I’m) shattered, lost. I don’t know how to tell my kids.”
Police said a patrol car at Normanville tried to stop Wilson after a check revealed the Commodore was unregistered, but instead he turned on to St Andrews Blvd.
“(The patrol) pursued the car to Hay Flat Rd where the driver did a burnout in front of the patrol and sped off,” police said in a statement
“The patrol did not continue to pursue the car due to the manner of driving and it was last seen heading toward Main South Rd. A couple of minutes later, the patrol located the car crashed into a tree before bursting into flames on Williss Drive.”
Nearby resident Jean Adriaanse said she saw “black smoke billowing” from the crash site after hearing a loud bang.
“The car was on fire … there was no way (police) could help the person in the car,” she said.
“Just thinking about standing there watching someone being burnt … It was horrendous.
Major Crash officers are investigating the circumstances of the incident and an internal investigation will also be conducted.
Police Commissioner Grant Stevens said it was fortunate that innocent bystanders were not injured or killed in the incident.
“My understanding is the driving behaviour was quite erratic so whilst one tragic loss of life is devastating, the circumstances could have led to more loss of life which would have been much more devastating,” he said.
Mr Stevens said while the circumstances surrounding the crash were being investigated, “early indications are that the actions (of the police officers) were warranted but we’ll look at that much more closely”.
He said the officers involved were receiving support in the wake of the smash.
“I’m sure you can appreciate for anybody who has to deal with an incident like that where you see that type of tragic consequence, it does have an effect,” he said.
“We have resources available to those people and we’re monitoring their welfare.”
The man’s death brought the state’s road toll to 70 this year, compared with 42 at the same time last year.
Mr Steven’s described the number of fatalities so far this year as “quite devastating” and said police commissioners across Australia had met to discuss how to combat the spiralling road toll.
“We’ve spoken about the strategies that are being employed in other jurisdictions to see what we can share,” he said.
“We do this regularly but we’re having a specific examination of where the opportunities may be and we’re currently planning a major campaign for South Australian roads as we speak.”
Police Minister Corey Wingard supported the police force’s efforts.
“I’ve said this countless times and I’ll say it again because it is very, very true — one death on our road is one death too many,” he said.