Patrick Johnston: Box Hill South man’s alleged wild road antics

A Box Hill speed demon had been hit with capsicum spray twice when he allegedly maneouvered around police and sped to short-lived freedom.

Johnston was arrested on December 17.

A man allegedly managed to speed away from police six times in eight weeks, including after he was surrounded by police and capsicum sprayed behind the wheel.

Patrick Johnston, 31, fronted Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, facing numerous charges including reckless conduct endangering life and recklessly exposing an emergency worker to risk.

The Box Hill South man allegedly sped away from police after two officers capsicum-sprayed him about 8am on December 15.

The court heard police allegedly watched Johnston leave a known Ferntree Gully drughouse and approached him as he got in his car in the driveway.

Johnston allegedly began resisting and trying to drive, so one officer opened the passenger door and sprayed capsicum foam in Johnston’s face.

The spray allegedly seemed to have little effect so the other officer did the same, but Johnston was allegedly still able to reverse backwards — as the officers stood right beside the car.

He allegedly then drove forward, hitting another car, and managed to drive onto the property’s front lawn and speed away.

Johnston was allegedly seen speeding through Rowville the next night, and allegedly went through two sets of red lights and sped up to 120km/h to lose police chasing him.

He’d previously lost police who were chasing him on EastLink on November 4 when he drove erratically across the lanes.

Johnston also allegedly managed to speed away from police on November 1, and on October 23 about 2am when he allegedly didn’t have headlights on, didn’t indicate, and drove on the wrong side of the road at 126km/h in a 60km/h zone in Dingley.

He also allegedly forced police to stop following him due to his dangerous driving on October 20 in Mulgrave, but was caught in Mulgrave on November 16 when he allegedly went through red lights.

Johnston was allegedly found to be drug affected and to have a trafficable amount of GHB, meth, a laser pointer and extendible baton with him.

He was finally taken into custody on December 17 when police pounced on him at a Ferntree Gully address, where they allegedly found him with $3550 cash, other people’s IDs, 10g of meth, scales, 60ml of GHB, 42g of cannabis and a taser.

Johnston was allegedly drug affected and violently resisted arrest, leading to him being capsicum sprayed again.

Johnston was allegedly a disqualified learner driver during all the alleged incidents.

Johnston fronted the court to apply for bail, with his lawyer proposing he be bailed to a residential drug rehabilitation facility.

The court heard the father had strong family support, with a family member offering $15,000 surety to the court.

Johnston’s lawyer pointed out Johnston could spend years in custody waiting for a trial.

Magistrate Maxted said he understood drug rehabilitation took time, but Johnston had been given “that many” chances to address his drug addiction.

The Magistrate said he couldn’t take the risk that Johnston might escape the unsecured rehab facility and get behind the wheel.

Mr Maxted said he further wasn’t convinced that there were compelling reasons to release Johnston.