Police charge Porsche ‘playboy’ after crash that killed four officers
Four police officers have been killed in a shocking crash in the greatest loss of police life in a single incident in Victoria in 150 years. They had pulled over a Porsche when a semi-trailer truck ploughed into the scene. The sports car’s driver is on the run.
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A Porsche driver who allegedly fled the scene of a crash that left four police officers dead in Kew has been charged by homicide squad detectives.
Richard Pusey, 41, was out on bail and allegedly high on drugs when his Porsche 911 was stopped by police.
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He was accused of travelling at 140kmh on the Eastern Freeway on Wednesday afternoon.
Pusey was interviewed by police late into the night on Thursday and is due to appear at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Friday on a range of charges, including destruction of evidence and three counts of committing an indictable offence while on bail.
His other charges are for speeding, reckless conduct endangering life, fail to remain after a drug test, fail to render assistance, fail to exchange detail and possessing a drug of dependence.
Truck driver Mohinder Singh Bajwa was still yet to be interviewed on Thursday night.
Victoria Police said he was expected to remain in hospital for a number of days.
Shortly after Pusey was pulled over, Singh Bajwa’s truck ploughed into four responding officers, killing them all.
It is alleged Pusey took photos of the gruesome crime scene, including officers’ bodies, and shared it on Facebook while on the run.
Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said it was “disgusting” that pictures of the crash scene had been shared.
“When I’m spending time with the family members of those deceased officers I can tell you it will absolutely disgust them,” he said.
“To leave the scene is a very, very low act.
“If I wasn’t wearing the uniform of chief commissioner, I would give you far more colourful language.”
Pusey, who runs Switch Now Home Loans, was taken into custody at Melbourne West Police Station on Thursday morning after more than 12 hours as a wanted fugitive.
He spent the day being quizzed by homicide squad detectives before being escorted to his multi-million dollar Fitzroy home in handcuffs.
Investigators removed bags of evidence and took photos inside his garage before Pusey was whisked away in a police car, making no comment to the media scrum.
Pusey was on bail at the time of the crash for unlawful assault and theft charges.
He was due before Collingwood Neighbourhood Justice Centre this month.
Pusey was also on summons to face the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court for a criminal damage charge in June.
In 2016 he was caught on camera wishing death on a cancer patient in an ugly business deal gone wrong.
It is alleged he failed to pay numerous contractors for work on his Mitcham home and lashed out at the wife of a contractor days after she underwent a double mastectomy.
“Get some more f---ing cancer you stupid f---ing s---. I hope you f---ing die,” he screamed at the woman.
The Herald Sun has been told Pusey had previously been banned from Whitehorse Council municipal premises.
He had also been known to members of parliament in the area because of his robust airing of grievances.
“He’d been known for sending correspondence to the council that sent up red flags,” a police source said.
A Melbourne mortgage broker described him as “an absolute d---head” who would go to extreme lengths to get his way. “He was a playboy, living the fast life,” the broker said.
A construction worker who also crossed paths with Pusey years ago said “he is smart, he knows how to get out of things”.
Pusey brags online about his high-powered Porsche and has a YouTube channel dedicated to footage of his thrill rides. He boasted about his Porsche in a bizarre review of SkyBus on a Tripadvisor website in 2018.
“I like to drive behind the bus in my Porsche because it doesn’t have Wi-Fi,” he wrote.
“I set the cruise control so as to allow me to social network and all that cool new-age type stuff that’s all the rage.
“Me and my Porsche enjoy the day out doing this activity.”
Investigators will probe whether he was behind the wheel of a similar Porsche captured on dashcam footage speeding on the Eastern Freeway in late March.
Last September he raked in $4.4 million on the sale of a historic Guildford Lane property in the CBD.
Pusey paid $2.8 million for the property, near Melbourne Central, which he leased in 2017 to Cat Cafe — where cats lived on site.
POLICE ON HOLD AT HOSPITAL
The truck driver who ploughed into the hero police officers was still in hospital on Thursday night as detectives were trying to work out the cause of Wednesday night’s tragedy.
Singh Bajwa’s blood sample has been taken but police said on Thursday night the father-of-two was still unfit to be interviewed.
The chicken truck driver is expected to remain in hospital for several days under police guard.
Immediately following the carnage Mr Bajwa blacked out and was treated by paramedics at the scene.
The truckie’s neighbour in Cranbourne described Mr Bajwa as a “good guy” as he opened up about his shock over the horrific crash.
“I’ve lived beside him for 15 years. He’s a good guy, we’ve never had any problems,” the neighbour said.
“It’s a horrible, horrible tragedy and the investigation will find out the answers.
“I just feel sorry for [the family] they didn’t ask for this.”
Victoria Police remained tight-lipped about the driver on Thursday night.
“The driver of the truck has been admitted to hospital,” a force spokesman said.
“He is expected to remain in hospital for a number of days and is unfit to be
interviewed at this time.”
HOW HORROR CRASH UNFOLDED
Police are investigating why a truck veered across three lanes of the Eastern Freeway moments before ploughing into four officers, killing them all.
As tributes flowed for the dead officers, the driver of a Porsche they had pulled over for speeding was charged by homicide detectives on Thursday night.
Mortgage broker Richard Pusey — who allegedly posted photos of the carnage after fleeing the scene — is facing separate assault and criminal damage charges and was once caught on video telling a cancer patient he hoped she would die. The 41-year-old was in custody on Thursday night.
The Herald Sun has been told the refrigerated truck was in the third lane of the freeway before swerving into the emergency lane, striking and killing the four officers. The truck driver, Mohinder Singh Bajwa, remained under police guard in hospital on Thursday night.
The possibility of the smash being deliberate was not being ruled out.
The homicide squad is investigating.
Police are desperate for dashcam footage of the crash, particularly of the truck, as there are no CCTV cameras on that section of the freeway.
The footage will be crucial to piecing together the truck driver’s movements, including in the moments before the tragedy.
Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor, Constable Glen Humphris, Senior Constable Kevin King and Constable Josh Prestney all died in the horrific crash.
On Thursday Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton paid tribute to the officers, saying they would never be forgotten.
“These officers were undertaking their everyday duties in helping to keep the community safe when they were killed,” he said.
“Their families will never be the same and our thoughts and prayers are with them.”
Tragically, Constable Prestney, 28, was killed just a day after starting his placement at Nunawading Highway Patrol.
The homicide squad and major collision investigation unit are leading the probe into the crash — the biggest loss of police lives in a single incident in the force’s history.
On Wednesday night, police raided the Cranbourne home of the truck driver.
Mr Bajwa had “blacked out” after the crash and spent Thursday in hospital under police guard.
Investigators were awaiting the results of toxicology testing but he was not expected to be interviewed for several days.
Police will also look at other factors, including fatigue, mobile phone use, distraction or a medical episode.
On Thursday, it was revealed Pusey was on bail and allegedly high on drugs when he was pulled over by police for travelling at 140kmh.
There are unconfirmed reports he avoided injury in the crash because he had walked away to urinate.
Homicide squad detectives spent Thursday questioning him over the crash, including why he fled and why he allegedly posted gruesome images of the scene to Facebook.
Handcufffed and wearing a black surgical mask, he was flanked by eight detectives as he was escorted inside his Fitzroy home late on Thursday.
Items seized inside either his or the truck driver’s home could prove crucial to the investigation.
Specialist crash investigators on Thursday carried out a number of skid tests on the freeway.
It remained closed to traffic until early afternoon, as police carefully seized every last bit of evidence.
Both the truck — owned by Connect Logistics — and Porsche will undergo extensive forensic analysis.
The witness testimony of several first-responders — including an off-duty doctor and off-duty paramedic — will be examined in detail. These and other witness accounts will be vital in determining how far before the crash scene the driver moved into the lane where the police were working.
WITNESSES WILL NEVER FORGET SCENE
Witnesses who saw the quadruple fatal crash have described the “horrific” scene as one they will never forget.
Cab driver Lou Bougias was less than 50m ahead of the highway patrol units on the Eastern Freeway when he saw the fatal collision unfold in his rearview mirror.
Quickly, he reversed his taxi and rendered assistance at the scene.
“It was carnage,” he told the Herald Sun.
“I saw everything flying.
“The debris stretched from the emergency lane to the other side on the median strip.”
Mr Bougias was one of the first responders along with an off duty doctor, aged in his 20s, who was on his way home from a shift at the Austin hospital.
The group of good Samaritans came together and desperately attempted to keep the female police officer alive with one man even jumping on the top of the Porsche’s bonnet to give her emergency care.
One man held a blanket up to protect the female officer’s identity while another diverted traffic, which began to build up behind the scene.
Others pulled the fluoro-vest wearing male truck driver out of his cabin, with sources at the scene saying he was a “blubbering mess”.
The truck driver was seen pacing the emergency lane in the aftermath of the collision, making a phone call to a relative from the scene.
Eyewitness Tim, who did not wish to reveal his surname, was driving outbound on the Eastern Freeway when he witnessed the first few minutes after the fatal crash.
“I’ve never seen anything that bad,” eyewitness Tim said.
“People were surrounding the Porsche trying to help the female who was on the bonnet.
“It made you feel sick in your stomach.”
Tim said he saw a flurry of police cars fly in both directions attempting to get to the scene, with some even crossing the median.
“We saw ten or more cop cars racing through right after it happened, they were going so quickly trying to get there,” he said.
“Then when they got there it was frantic, they were running out so fast to try and help at the scene.”
Witnesses at the scene spent Wednesday night giving police statements to the homicide squad which will play an important part of the investigation.
Police have urged anyone who saw the crash or has dashcam footage of it to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
EERIE, QUIET SCENES AS FORCE MOURNS
On Thursday, several floral tributes and handwritten cards were left outside Boroondara Police Station, just over 1km from the scene of the crash.
The Australian flag outside the station was also flying at half mast on Thursday as a mark of respect.
Mr Ashton said members of Victoria Police would be thinking of the tragedy as they went about their day on Thursday.
“The whole force is reeling this morning,” he said. “It is a timely reminder of how tragic police work can be at times.
“Members will be very concerned about traffic stops and no doubt will be looking over their shoulders.”
“The job is risky enough without having to have these sort of accidents occur.”
Mr Ashton said Wednesday was a “tragic night” for Victoria Police.
He said one of the officers had joined the force “very recently”.
“The others were a little more seasoned and experienced,” Mr Ashton said.
“As police commissioner, I’m deeply saddened by the events of tonight. It’s a tragic night for Victoria Police.
“All the officers down here, I can tell you there’s an eerie quiet down there that sometimes you don’t see at crime scenes. Everyone down there is feeling it at the moment.
“Everyone understands what a tragedy this is for the families of those officers and for the whole force. They’re all feeling that deeply.”
Police Association Victoria secretary Wayne Gatt said: “The Police Association Victoria is shocked and immensely saddened by the deaths of four of our dedicated members, who were killed while protecting the community on the Eastern Freeway this afternoon.
“We are providing immediate and ongoing support to the colleagues and families of those members.
“This is a brutally sad reminder of the danger police face in the course of their service, every minute of every shift.
“We mourn their loss, we grieve with their families and colleagues and we will never forget them.”
He said the deaths would “shock police in stations across Victoria”.
“These police officers were doing something that we do 10 times, 20 times, 30 times a shift — intercepting a motor vehicle on the side of the road.
“This is the bread and butter of policing,” he told reporters.
“This isn’t stuff that you go to do and expect to be killed doing. But each and every time a police officer does that for the next little while, they’ll have this in the back of their minds, there’s no doubt.”
Police Minister Lisa Neville suggested that Victorians wave and thank any police officer they saw, or post an online message of thanks.
She said it was going to be “very difficult weeks ahead” for them.
“I can’t underestimate on what a significant impact this will have not only on the families but on all Victoria Police members,” she said.
“This touches everyone — it touches the whole community, it touches all those emergency services … it will leave a hole.”
Mr Ashton thanked the community for their outpouring of support and tribute, but asked for people not to drop flowers at the scene.
He said the force was considering a way that people could pay tribute to the officers, potentially online.
“We don’t want to put anyone else’s health at risk by a consequence of this,” he said.
“The whole force is reeling this morning (Thursday) from what has occurred.”
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— With Anthony Dowsley, Samantha Landy, Sharon McGowan, Kieran Rooney, Jon Kaila and Josh Fagan
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