Police want information after couch crash left elderly woman in ICU

A witness to a horror car crash that left a grandmother in a critical condition and police searching for answers has told of the moment she thought the victim was “dead for sure”.

A family and police are searching for answers as a North Geelong grandmother clings to life in intensive care after a couch left on a road reportedly caused a serious two-car crash.

Vicki McKenzie, 74, was driving home on Saturday about 8pm on Creamery Rd, Bell Post Hill, after she had dropped her grandchild at a friend’s house, when police say her car hit the couch.

Police want information or dashcam footage that relates to the crash. Reports can be made via Crime Stoppers.

Vicki McKenzie, 74, pictured with her grand kids, is now clinging to life in hospital after a two-car crash on Creamery Rd, Bell Post Hill.

April Hayes pictured with her daughters. All three were in the crash. Picture: supplied

Ms McKenzie’s son Brad said his mum had been unconscious since the crash, and he believed her car could have “catapulted” into another car after hitting the couch, left “in the middle of the road”.

“Someone knows what’s happened. In all likeliness other people will know what’s happened,” Mr McKenzie said on Thursday night.

“We got that initial phone call saying, ‘Look she’s, in all likelihood, not going to make it to the hospital’.

“She’s still in a very bad way, we don’t know what the outcome will be.

“She’s had a leg removed, lots of internal damage. (Doctor’s) are still uncertain about neck, spine and brain injuries because she’s still under.

“We won’t know until she wakes up.

“There has been some sign of her waking; fluttering of the eyes and slight movement when they reduced the sedation.

“It is just a matter of seeing what happens. They don’t know what will happen.”

Norlane mum April Hayes, who was with her young daughters in the other car involved in the crash, said she thought Ms McKenzie wouldn’t survive her injuries.

“By the time I got over to her car I thought, ‘Oh God no one has taken anyone out’. People were standing around and they were almost too scared to look maybe because the scene was too much to deal with.

“I was like, ‘Oh this person is dead for sure’.

A part of the mangled couch after the crash

“(When I went over) she (Ms McKenzie) was looking right through me. She looked like she was in and out of consciousness. She was bleeding from her head. I could tell she was trapped.

“I assume someone knows who put the couch there. I definitely encourage them to dob that person in.

“There’s no way you don’t notice a couch falling off a car or if the couch was on the side of the road, who in their right mind would move it to the road? That’s really, really stupid.”

Mr McKenzie said the family’s emotions had ranged between anger and wanting answers in the days since the crash near the Midland Hwy end of Creamery Rd that’s left his mum in The Alfred hospital.

“It would be a bloody hard thing to live with, that guilt, knowing that whether it was a deliberate act; if someone was placing the couch on the road for a bit of run or losing a load from a trailer,” he said.

“The couch was in middle of the road from what we’ve been told. (Mum) pretty much remained in her lane until the couch catapulted her into the other car.”

A mother and two children, in the other car involved in the crash escaped with minor injuries but were take to hospital for observation.

Paramedics treat Ms McKenzie following the crash. Picture: Geelong TV.

Ms Hayes said the crash left her trapped, briefly, after her car was “completely caved in”.

“My kids were both screaming. I couldn’t breath much. I was telling them that I needed them to try their best to get their seat belts off.”

Ms Hayes urged anyone with information about the crash or why the couch was on the road to contact Crime Stoppers.

“I didn’t even see the couch before the crash, all I saw was lights.

“My theory is that she (Ms McKenzie drove) to her left (to avoid the couch) and then as she’s come back to her right is when she’s hit the couch because it’s been pushed it into my lane.

“I then collided with the couch and both our cars have destroyed it, and then both cars have collided as well and bounced off each other.

“It was terrible. That split second slowed into slow motion. I just remember thinking ‘this is going to hurt’.”

In June and July, multiple incidents of rocks thrown from the Creamery Rd overpass on the Geelong Ring Road were investigated by police.

Geelong crime investigation unit detectives are probing the circumstances that led to the crash.

Police spokeswoman Madelaine Burke said officers were working to determine how the couch was on the road before the crash.

“It is believed a woman was driving a blue Kia Rio eastbound along Creamery Rd when her vehicle hit a couch on the road around 7.50pm on Saturday, September 10,” Ms Burke said.

“The Kia Rio then collided with a Hyundai i40 travelling in the opposite direction.

“The occupants of the Hyundai i40, a woman and two children, were taken to hospital with minor injuries. No one else was injured.”

The couch was left in a mangled wreck at the side of the road following the incident.

Anyone with dashcam footage, who witnessed the crash or with information on the couch is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report online at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.

Originally published as Police want information after couch crash left elderly woman in ICU