Bourke St inquest: Senior Constable Gregory Ralston gives evidence
The Bourke St inquest has heard contradicting evidence from two police officers who could’ve stopped Dimitrious Gargasoulas hours before he mowed people down in Melbourne CBD.
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The cop who allowed Dimitrious Gargasoulas to pass him on narrow service lane has admitted he didn’t think the Bourke St killer was going to ram them, “he just wanted us out of the way”.
The startling evidence from Senior Constable Gregory Ralston comes a day after his senior colleague, Sergeant Matthew Peck, told a coronial inquest he believed Gargasoulas was going to drive into them and possibly cause both officers serious injury.
Sgt Peck conceded yesterday that it was a “missed opportunity” to arrest Gargasoulas, who two hours later mowed down dozens of people - killing six - in the Melbourne CBD on January 20, 2017.
Snr Const Ralston said he only had a few seconds to decide how he was going to react.
“It doesn’t feel like a period of time that we were stopped stationary, it wasn’t like a Mexican stand-off so to speak … we were crawling forward.”
The officers are part of the specially-trained Critical Response Incident Team which eventually agreed to pleas from local police to help arrest Gargasoulas, who was wanted for the attempted murder of his brother and another serious assault.
He told counsel assisting the coroner Paul Lawrie he had the option to move forward and ram Gargasoulas’ stolen Holden Commodore, but CIRT officers ordinarily didn’t perform blocks of moving vehicles.
Gargasoulas was driving about 40kmh.
Mr Lawrie asked him what was being said between him and Sgt Peck.
“I had a million and one things running through my mind. I was looking for reassurance that we were thinking on the same page and was like ‘what should I do’ and he said ‘I will leave it to your judgment and back you either way,’” he said.
Snr Const Ralston said he simply turned right into a drive away and allowed Gargasoulas to pass.
As he did so he could see Gargasoulas had slowed down, which differed from Sgt Peck’s evidence yesterday that the killer maintained his speed.
Gargasoulas was waving his arms as if to motion the police out of the way.
Asked what he thought Gargasoulas meant, Snr Const Ralston said: “I took that to mean he wasn’t aiming to ram at police or run us down in any way. He just wanted us out of the way.’
However, he told Coroner Jacqui Hawkins if they attempted an intercept while Gargasoulas was in the car it may have resulted in a ramming.
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A short time later he heard the pursuit of Gargasoulas was abandoned and he and Sgt peck had a debrief with another CIRT vehicle.
He could not remember if they discussed an arrest plan.
The inquest continues.
Originally published as Bourke St inquest: Senior Constable Gregory Ralston gives evidence