What happened when Deputy Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon was found behind the Big Merino

Deputy Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon allegedly said ‘do you know who I am?’ to paramedics and police trying to help him after he was found collapsed ‘behind the Big Merino’.

NSW Deputy Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon.

Deputy Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon allegedly said “do you know who I am?” to ambulance and police officers trying to help him after he was found collapsed “behind the Big Merino” in Goulburn.

Secret government documents released to state parliament last week have revealed new details about the events that unfolded when emergency crews received a call-out to attend to a male patient out the front of the Mercure Hotel in early March.

Deputy Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon. Picture: NCA NewsWire

The documents include an email from Ambulance NSW to senior department officials, including Health Department staff, entitled “Paramedic Assault Brief – Details, Context and Background”.

Key details about the incident, such as the nature and “assault type”, have been censored.

However, neither the ambulance nor the police officer who attended lodged an assault complaint with police sources, declaring none had occurred.

Among details that have been made public include notes taken by the police officer attending the incident “behind the Big Merino” which alleged Mr Lanyon had declared: “Do you know who I am?”.

The high-ranking police official, who is on the short-list to take over from Police Commissioner Mick Fuller, subsequently apologised to emergency crews for his behaviour on the night, declaring he had been having a “medical episode”.

Mr Lanyon was found collapsed ‘behind the Big Merino’ in Goulburn. Picture: Getty Images

It can now be revealed Mr Fuller counselled Mr Lanyon after the incident. Mr Lanyon had been in town with some of his senior colleagues ahead of a police ceremony.

An ambulance source, who relayed the events of that Wednesday night to a NSW Labor MP, said crews arrived after staff at Mr Lanyon’s hotel called for help.

The source ­alleged Mr Lanyon, who had not been in ­uniform, became agitated and argumentative when crews tried to help, and made a phone call to NSW Ambulance Commissioner Dominic Morgan.

Mr Fuller later revealed at a Budget Estimates hearing that Mr Lanyon had consumed alcohol that night, but that had not been the cause of his collapse.

Among the released documents, ambulance notes reveal crews were called to a “male laying on the footpath” shortly after 11am.

Police notebook entries from the night. Picture: Supplied

Details of the ambulance medical assessment are heavily censored, revealing only that Mr Lanyon was “returned to his room at the motel” after being “cleared”.

Mr Morgan later emailed the two attending ambulance officers asking if they had received “the necessary support” they required.

“Clearly there was information in your report, particularly about being hindered which I was not privy to,” he wrote.

A NSW Police spokesman said the matter was referred to the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission for independent oversight and was also reviewed by the NSW Police Force Professional Standards Command.

“The matter was deemed to be appropriately dealt with by the commissioner,” the spokesman said.

Mr Lanyon said he had been “unaware” that he had caused “any offence” to the ambulance officers, and had called them “as soon as I became aware that I may have”.

“I have had an excellent and lengthy working relationship with the ambulance service, ” he said.

The documents were released following a call for papers by One Nation MP Rod Roberts. Greens MP David Shoebridge, who had presided over the Budget Estimates hearing, said he would be pressing for the release of all the documents.