Good Samaritan mum killed while helping at fatal Wantirna motorcycle crash
THE family of a young mum, who was hit and killed while trying to save a motorcyclist in Wantirna, say she was a “genuinely caring” and “beautiful” person as her last known words to her husband were revealed.
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EMILY dedicated her life to caring for others.
At home, she was a loving wife and devoted mum to her children, aged 5 and 7.
At work, she built a career tirelessly caring for dementia patients at a Bayswater aged care home.
Sadly, she paid the ultimate price for her generous spirit on Monday night when she was run down by a car as she tried to save a motorcyclist flung from his bike in Wantirna.
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She had finished work at the Tabulam and Templer aged care home about 10pm and was on her way home when she made the fateful decision to try save a life.
She had leapt from her car and ran on to the road to perform CPR on the fallen motorcyclist.
Police have blamed the motorcyclist for reckless riding.
Emily’s last known words were to her husband shortly beforehand. She had told him she loved him and would “be home soon.”
Her family say they are “truly devastated” to have lost their “beautiful Emily.”
“She was a genuinely caring person right down to her line of work where she cared for dementia patients,” they said.
A colleague, Lesley Krige, said she had a “heart of gold” and always put others first.
“Everybody loved Emily — everybody,” she said. “This is so typical of her. She would never put herself first, not even her own safety.
“She was always wanting to do everything for everybody else, without hesitation.
“She was a wonderful mother, a very gentle soul.”
Emily and her husband had been planning to move their young family to Adelaide, where her husband grew up.
Ms Krige said Emily had spent the past eight years working as a personal carer for dementia patients, and had been planning to start work as an endorsed nurse next year.
“She would have been excellent at it,” she said.
“She was always good with the residents, very loving, very caring. I can’t think of a bad thing to say about her.
“There just isn’t anything.”
Another grieving friend who knew Emily through Wantirna Goodstart childcare centre, which her two children attend, said she “would do anything for her kids.”
“She was so caring,” the woman said.
POLICE HAIL EMILY A HERO
Major Collision Investigation Unit Acting Detective Inspector Brad McArthur called Emily a hero for risking her life to save a stranger’s. He said she stopped her car and rushed to the aid of the motorcyclist, who was flung from his bike after he crashed into the Audi with such force it spun the car 180 degrees.
She was doing chest compressions on the man when she was hit and killed by a Honda Prelude driving west on Boronia Rd. Police believe the driver, a 32-year-old Boronia man, did not see her.
“She was trying to do the right thing. She saw somebody who was in need of help, she’s gone out of her way to help but unfortunately it’s led to her death,” Det Insp McArthur said.
“One of the things about my job, we see some pretty ordinary behaviour on the roads that leads to the death of people and on the other hand we see some heroic attempts to help people out that are injured or in this case deceased.
“She’s a hero as far as I’m concerned.”
Insp McArthur said the woman’s grieving children and husband were in shock.
“We’ve spoken to her partner, who is absolutely devastated,” he said.
“The kids are early school age or not even school age they’re going to have to live their life without a mother.”
Investigators are yet to establish the exact speed of the motorcycle, but believe it was well above the 80kmh limit.
Tests will be conducted to establish if the rider had drugs or alcohol in his system, and the powder found in his pockets will also be tested.
CRASHES HAPPENED ‘ABOUT 20 SECONDS APART’
Andy Xu said the two crashes happened “about 20 seconds apart” out the front of his Boronia Rd home.
He said he heard the initial smash between the car and motorcycle and looked out his window in time to see a person leaning over a body.
“I could see a person laying down on the road and another person over them. The lady was trying to help him. I couldn’t see too clearly it was very dark and my kids were very scared they didn’t want to go out.
“It’s very sad. The road is too dangerous, this is the second accident that’s happened this year.”
A motorbike rider and a woman who rushed to his aid are dead after a crash involving two cars at Wantirna in Melbourne's east last night. @BreakfastNews @abcmelbourne pic.twitter.com/sn5iZnBxiY
— James Hancock (@jameshancockABC) September 24, 2018
Two people are dead following two crashes in Wantirna overnight. First a motorcyclist who’d collided with an Audi. Then a female pedestrian who’d stopped at the scene to help was struck by another vehicle. Boronia Rd still closed in both directions. @3AW693 pic.twitter.com/KhU1ySDkDQ
— Pat Mitchell (@patty_mitchell) September 24, 2018
Neighbour Anthony Barker said the intersection was “incredibly dangerous” with traffic turning onto the busy road and into service lanes next to a pedestrian controlled traffic light.
Another neighbour Raghar Rana described it as an “accident waiting to happen”.
“That intersection is one of the most poorly designed things I’ve seen in my life.”
The crashes occurred about 400m from where a newlywed couple was killed in an alleged hit-run smash earlier this year.
Matt Goland, 38, and his wife, Bita Zaeim, 32, were driving home about early on Saturday April 21, when a four-wheel-drive struck their car at the corner of Boronia and Stud roads.
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Mr Goland died at the scene and Ms Zaeim was taken to hospital but died of her injuries.
The driver of the other car, 19-year-old Eric Victorsen, has pleaded guilty to culpable driving causing the deaths of Mr Goland and Ms Zaeim.
Victorsen — and a 15-year-old girl — were driving a $170,000 Lexus they had allegedly stolen from a home in Lysterfield two days earlier.
Monday night’s deaths in Wantirna take Australia’s road toll to 150 lives lost in 2018.
Last year 183 people died on Australian roads.
— with Aneeka Simonis, Selby Stewart