By David Estcourt
Detectives have released images of two men they believe were involved in a hit-and-run that killed one person and left another with life-threatening injuries after a car struck two workers in Melbourne’s south-east.
Major collision unit investigators are looking for the driver of a red Holden Commodore sedan that hit two traffic control workers setting up a roadworks site in Carrum Downs about 7.15am on Tuesday. They are also seeking a driver who later picked that man up in a black Hyundai and helped him leave the scene.
Police are looking for this man, and the driver of the black Hyundai, to assist them with their inquiries.
Emergency services said they attended the crash at the corner of Hall Road and Lats Avenue and that a 44-year-old man died at the scene. The Bayswater traffic control worker - identified as Timmy Rakei - is being remembered as a beloved family man and a loving father.
A second person injured in the collision, a 38-year-old Traralgon man, was airlifted to the Royal Melbourne Hospital with multiple injuries. He remained in a stable condition as of 7pm on Tuesday.
Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Jarrod Dwyer said the dead man was wedged between the ute and the red Commodore with force, and investigators would examine if speed was a factor in the crash.
“It’s just a callous, cold act. The act of a coward,” he said. “The driver has got out and looked directly at the two victims, and then ran off.”
“The driver and sole occupant of the red Commodore has then gone out of the car and fled the scene on foot and been picked up a few streets away by an accomplice.”
The driver, who police said appeared to be Caucasian and aged in his 30s, was chased by a witness from the scene, before getting away. The witness took photographs of the man as he ran away and investigators pursued him with help from the air wing.
“[The witness] called out to the [Commodore] driver and asked him to stop, [but] he refused and continued running away. So, the Good Samaritan chased him and has taken photographs of that person,” Detective Acting Senior Sergeant Dwyer said.
On Tuesday afternoon police released two images. One was of the man investigators believe was driving the red Holden, the other showed a man behind the wheel of the black Hyundai that was used in the escape.
Witnesses told investigators that after the crash the driver got into the black Hyundai SUV. Police say that vehicle was then driven at a patrol car. It was last seen travelling east of Ballarto Road, a main road that runs through Carrum Downs, at about 7.45am.
On Tuesday morning the scene was strewn with traffic cones and other materials. About a dozen emergency service personnel were in attendance.
Altus Traffic chief executive Ben Marsonet said the man’s death was a “shattering” loss.
“[He was] a beloved family man, you know, kids are at school coming home and their father’s not there to greet them. It’s just the most shattering set of circumstances,” he said. “He’s a leader in this business and to lose him in this manner is just absolutely shattering.”
Police want to speak to the Hyundai driver as well.
A witness who gave his name as Rick said it appeared two people working on the median strip were struck. “They’d put their cones out and the car had gone through them and into the back of the truck,” he told 3AW.
Police are also investigating a separate fatal collision in Koonwarra, in South Gippsland.
Emergency services were called to the intersection of South Gippsland Highway and Caithness Road after car and truck collided about 10.20am. The car driver, an 18-year-old Meeniyan woman, died at the scene.
With Cassandra Morgan
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