Porsche driver Richard Pusey ‘needs help’ with crash trauma: Lawyer

The Porsche driver who filmed four dying police officers needs help to cope with the horror crash last year, a court has heard.

The Porsche driver who filmed four police officers as they died on the side of a road needs help coping after the horror crash, a court has heard.

Richard Pusey appeared briefly over videolink from jail in the Neighbourhood Justice Centre on Wednesday, after he was arrested on stalking charges three weeks after last being released from prison.

His lawyer Philip Dunn QC told the court Pusey needed “ongoing treatment” related to the Eastern Freeway crash on April 22, 2020.

“He was a bystander, literally a bystander, through no fault of his … in April last year where a number of people were killed,” Mr Dunn said.

“Shortly thereafter he was put in custody, untreated for post traumatic stress or anything like that.”

Mr Dunn said Pusey had “witnessed carnage” and needed structures put in place around him to cope with the traumatic events.

“This man needs help,” he said.

Richard Pusey wore an attention-grabbing outfit when released from prison on August 25, before he was arrested again three weeks later. Picture: Jason Edwards

Four police officers died when an ice-affected truck driver ploughed into the freeway’s emergency lane, where they were standing after stopping Pusey for speeding in his Porsche.

Lynette Taylor, Glen Humphris, Kevin King and Joshua Prestney died in the horror crash.

Pusey was uninjured because he was urinating on an embankment away from the road at the moment the truck driver veered into the emergency lane and caused the fatal accident.

Instead of trying to help, he walked around the scene filming the officers as they died, making offensive comments.

He spent 10 months in prison for crimes including the rare charge of outraging public decency.

Mr Dunn said arrangements would be made for Pusey to go to a different property to his Fitzroy townhouse if granted bail, which is the suburb where his alleged stalking took place.

Pusey was not in a position to apply for bail on Wednesday because he had barely been able to speak to his lawyer due to Covid restrictions, Mr Dunn said.

Richard Pusey outraged the public when he filmed four dying police officers and made offensive comments in the aftermath of the horror Eastern Freeway crash. Picture: AAP Image/Michael Dodge

He said he had been hired as Pusey’s lawyer a week ago, but had only been able to speak to his client for 15 minutes over a “scratchy” telephone line from prison.

Magistrate David Fanning said “regrettably, the experience you’ve said is not altogether uncommon in Covid circumstances” as the justice system struggles with restrictions.

Pusey was released from custody on August 25 before he was arrested again three weeks later and now remains in jail.

He was charged with four counts of assault police, two counts of stalking, and two counts of committing an offence while on bail.

Police allege in court documents that Pusey harassed another Fitzroy resident by discarding “cat litter, faeces, and other food items” in and around their property.

He was also allegedly “keeping the victim under surveillance” using CCTV cameras, the documents state.

He had the intention of “causing physical and mental harm to the victim, including self-harm, or of arousing apprehension and fear”, police allege in the documents.

Richard Pusey spent three weeks in the community before he was arrested again. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nicki Connolly

Police say these acts happened between May 2020 and September this year.

He also allegedly assaulted police officers four times on September 15, the date police were called to his apartment.

His latest stint in custody is separate to his 10-month jail sentence for his acts following the horror Eastern Freeway crash.

He also served 120 days jail for unlawful assault, bail offences, using a carriage service to harass, theft and criminal damage resulting from a string of incidents prior to the crash, and is currently serving a two-year good behaviour order for those charges.

He walked free three weeks ago wearing a bizarre outfit, dressed in a mask with the words “Fake News” printed on it and a black long-sleeved sweatshirt printed with the words “Get me Oprah”.

Originally published as Porsche driver Richard Pusey ‘needs help’ with crash trauma: Lawyer