Porsche driver’s family ‘disgusted’ over crash that claimed four police officers
The mother of Richard Pusey has revealed devastation and disgust the family feels over the crash that claimed the lives of four police officers. She also said her family was estranged from the Porsche driver.
VIC News
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The mother of Richard Pusey has broken her silence over Wednesday’s crash.
She revealed her family were “truly devastated” by the tragedy involving her son.
“We would like to say we are truly devastated and we extend our deepest sympathies to the family, friends and colleagues of the four officers,” she said in a statement to 3AW.
“We are disgusted, as you can imagine.”
3AW host Neil Mitchell said the station believed the woman was who she claimed to be and had tried to verify her identity.
The mum said the family had been estranged from Mr Pusey for some time.
“All that we can say, is that we feel the same sense of devastation as the community at the time,” she said.
“It was an unimaginable and horrific accident that has left us all with many questions, but so far few answers
PORSCHE DRIVER’S ‘MANIAC’ LIFESTYLE LAID BARE
It’s a modern warehouse-conversion like so many other homes in Melbourne’s trendy inner northeast.
But beneath the intercom outside Richard Pusey’s Fitzroy residence is a message of hatred towards police.
It reads: “How’s get f----d sound, pig c---?”
The maniac lifestyle of the Porsche-driving mortgage broker has been laid bare, those who know him telling the Sunday Herald Sun they feared his behaviour would one day “spiral”.
Neighbours allege the 41-year-old would run around his own street, daubing walls with obscenities so council contractors would be forced to remove that and existing graffiti.
Pusey’s dislike for police was very clear, and he recently converted his three-storey home into a “fortress”, with multiple layers of security doors, black window shutters and cameras.
He would regularly blare dance music from 11pm on weeknights until the next afternoon like “Melbourne’s biggest nightclub” and refused to co-operate with police, who were regularly at his door.
There was allegedly even a visit on Christmas Day last year.
Inside the home Pusey shared with his wife, he would often be heard screaming, mostly incoherent ramblings, and was feared on the roads around Smith St where he would drive “like a maniac”.
Only last week he allegedly almost crashed into another car.
“He has no sense of normal common decency to anyone,” a neighbour said. “It’s just mind-boggling.
“Everyone knew it would eventually spiral, but we didn’t realise it would spiral this big.”
Early yesterday, Pusey’s home was vandalised with the word “die” spray-painted in capital letters on his garage roller door, a matter now under police investigation.
He spent his second night in protective custody at Melbourne Assessment Prison last night as a result of his role in Wednesday evening’s Eastern Freeway horror crash in which four police officers died.
Pusey was allegedly high on ice and cannabis when he was intercepted for driving at 140kmh citybound on the freeway. After a truck rammed into the police officers, their two vehicles and his Porsche, it is alleged he filmed himself taunting one dying officer before fleeing the scene.
Last night it emerged that the truck driver responsible for the deaths will not be interviewed until tomorrow at the earliest.
Mohinder Singh Bajwa, 47, of Cranbourne, did not sustain serious injuries in the crash but has spent four nights at the Royal Melbourne Hospital under police guard.
The father of two was still to be assessed by medical experts, who will determine when he is fit to be interviewed.
Police allegedly found an ice pipe in his cab and another at his home, and are probing whether he was high on drugs at the time of impact. A blood sample taken from him was analysed and returned to investigators on Friday.
Mr Singh Bajwa was allegedly travelling at 100kmh when his semi-trailer veered across multiple lanes into the officers in the emergency lane.
What caused him to do this is at the centre of the investigation led by the Homicide Squad and the Major Collision Investigation Unit.
He could face a series of indictable offences including culpable driving causing death, — which carries a maximum 20-year jail term — dangerous driving causing death, speeding and driving under the influence of drugs.
No one was answering the door at the family home in Cranbourne yesterday.
Witness accounts and dashcam footage will be crucial to the investigation.
Forensic and mechanical tests will be conducted on the truck to determine any faults, including steering wheel movements.
Mr Singh Bajwa’s police interview will be most crucial in determining whether his actions at the wheel were deliberate. His history, including his driving record and driving logs, will also be scrutinised and his employer, Connect Logistics, questioned.
By law, Victorian drivers must slow to 40kmh when stationary police vehicles with blue flashing lights are ahead.
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