Port Adelaide football player Jarman Impey allegedly involved in crash at Norwood
IT started as a day of fun at the eastern-suburbs house of Port Adelaide forward Angus Monfries. It ended with police involvement and angry neighbours.
IT started as a day of fun at the eastern suburbs house of Port Adelaide forward Angus Monfries.
The party – one of several Monfries has recently hosted after a one-year suspension over the Essendon supplements scandal – began on Saturday morning as friends and teammates lounged around his backyard pool, taking advantage of the glorious sunshine.
As the day wore on, the drinks flowed, music blared and the conversation became increasingly louder before guests started leaving in the early evening.
“It was loud but that is not surprising given the noise that has come from there recently,” one woman told The Advertiser on Sunday.
Electrician Micki Telfer, 31, described hearing a “lot of noise” from the gathering.
He said: “It was definitely getting raucous. It started about 11am and continued until about 7pm. Then I heard a car crash and it was pretty loud. It sounded like someone had been doing doughnuts (car spinning). I thought: ‘that doesn’t sound good’.”
In a bizarre series of events that are now the subject of a criminal prosecution, Monfries’ younger teammate, Jarman Impey, 21, allegedly got behind the wheel of a white Holden Commodore.
Witnesses reported seeing him driving erratically, swerving and “doing doughnuts” along George St, Norwood, 5km east of the CBD, leaving a trail of destruction.
Police allege he hit four parked cars, including Monfries’ Audi, before allegedly fleeing the scene down a nearby backstreet.
A distressed Monfries, who was keeping a low profile on Sunday, was seen on the street inspecting his car with an unidentified friend, who is said to have told a young female neighbour to “get back inside”.
His Audi and Impey’s car were believed to have been towed to a local crash repairer.
Impey faces a raft of charges including driving without due care and failing to report the collision.
It is understood that by the time Impey was interviewed by police, it was beyond the legal time limit for a driver to comply with alcohol breath-testing.
Monfries, who turns 30 in January, was reluctant to explain what happened, ordering The Advertiser away from his property.
Impey, originally from Shepparton, 190km north of Melbourne, was not at his Henley Beach home on Sunday.
An unidentified man and woman were seen leaving his property on Sunday.
Club sources said Impey was “fine” but shaken by the incident.
Some of Monfries’ neighbours told The Advertiser they had called police over loud music late at night. One family had spent thousands of dollars installing double glazing to muffle noise.
One neighbour said he was “absolutely sick of it, as we all live close together”.
“I have called the cops a few times before,” he said. “There have been loads of parties.”
Another neighbour, shop manager Justine Van Zanten, said there had been frequent gatherings at Monfries’ home in the football off-season.
“Hopefully with the footy season coming up again, it will quieten down,” she said. “But we live in the city, so you kind of expect this. There are a few in the neighbourhood who have been upset by this.”
Another neighbour, however, said Monfries had not caused any trouble.
Port Adelaide CEO Keith Thomas told media on Sunday that it took the club five hours to find Impey and that they were now working with him. He will face the club’s leadership group on Monday.
A statement from the club on the official Port Adelaide website confirmed Impey “is co-operating with South Australian police after reporting involvement in a motor vehicle accident last night”.