Body cam footage shows dramatic pursuit of drug driver Jahdon Tamati

Never before seen footage has been released of the dramatic police pursuit of drug driver Jahdon Tamati, moments before an officer was “thrown through the air”.

A judge has called for drug and drink drivers to face the same punishment as it emerged that those behind the wheel “full of speed and meth” could face lesser penalties.

County Court judge Geoffrey Chettle was dealing with drug driver Jahdon Tamati after he crashed a stolen Range Rover, throwing a police officer “through the air like a man on the trapeze” in a crime captured on camera.

His Honour noted that the maximum penalty that could apply to the first time drug driver was 12 penalty units - a $2219 fine.

Meanwhile, first time drink drivers face harsher maximum fines under the Road Safety Act of up to $3698, or 20 penalty units.

Drug driver Jahdon Tamati was arrested in South Yarra in 2020.

“Some time or other the government’s got to get around to changing that provision in relation to drug driving to make it the same as alcohol driving,” Judge Chettle said.

“It just amazes me that you can go to jail for alcohol driving but not for being full of speed and meth.”

Tamati, 32, was high on ice and GHB when he reversed the stolen Range Rover into three vehicles as two police officers gripped onto the doors in a bid to arrest him, during Melbourne’s stage 4 lockdown on August 14, 2020.

His drug intake put him at 21 times the risk of being in a collision, the court heard.

Dramatic footage captured by a witness in South Yarra showed the moment he crashed, sending a policeman flying through the air over a parked car.

The officer managed to escape with only minor injuries.

“When you look at the video of this it’s lucky no-one was killed,” Judge Chettle said.

Tamati was arrested with “an Aladdin’s cave of stolen stuff” and a knife in the waistband of his trackie dacks, and hours later he tested positive to Covid-19.

Two police officers were injured as a result.

He pleaded guilty in the County Court on Friday to 11 charges, including assaulting police, drug and unlicensed driving and failing to comply with health orders.

He’d only come to police attention because his mate - just released from prison - wasn’t wearing a face mask as lawfully required.

But when the patrolling officers realised Tamati had an outstanding warrant for his arrest, he “took the hoof” to the stolen Range Rover 200m away.

Defence barrister Leighton Gwynn said his client was living in protective custody in jail alongside his brother, who had witnessed a murder.

The siblings moved prisons three months ago due to the “security alert”.

Mr Gwynn said Tamati was in custody with “some threat to his safety”, which was a “powerful” factor in favour of releasing him into the community on parole with time already served.

The defence barrister said Tamati’s 3.5g daily ice habit had been linked to the death of both his parents, and that his client had written a letter to apologise to the police for his actions. Judge Chettle noted he was familiar with Tamati after he sentenced him to jail a decade earlier for “kidnapping and torturing people” when he was just 19.

Tamati’s latest crimes carry a maximum 10 years jail for his main offence of exposing an emergency service worker to risk.

His Honour will hand down his sentence on August 31.