Eastern Freeway truck crash: Victoria Police tributes to officers killed
The police officers killed in Melbourne on Wednesday night have been remembered for their dedication to keeping the community safe.
The police officers killed in Melbourne on Wednesday night have been remembered for their dedication to keeping the community safe.
Official tributes to the officers released by Victoria Police:
Constable Glen Humphris
Constable Glen Humphris came to Victoria and began his policing career in 2019, after first gaining a series of accomplishments in other fields.
Born and raised in Gosford on the NSW Central Coast, Glen left school and became an apprentice carpenter. After a few years, he needed a change and became a personal trainer. Glen completed a Bachelor of Exercise and Sports Science at University of Newcastle and obtained Masters in Exercise Physiology at the University of Sydney, becoming a sports scientist and exercise physiologist.
It was when working for Return to Work in Newcastle that Glen met his partner of four years, Todd.
The pair moved to Melbourne, which is when Glen applied to join Victoria Police.
Glen performed extremely well during his time at the Police Academy. His results in both examinations and assessments were well above average and he narrowly missed out on the Highest Academic Achiever Award for his squad. He completed placements at South Melbourne and Melbourne East police stations and graduated in March 2020 before a placement in the Road Policing (Drug and Alcohol Section).
He enjoyed the food and bar lifestyle of Melbourne and he continued to have a passion for exercise, competing in triathlons and maintaining a high level of fitness.
His squad mates said he genuinely wanted to help people, had a great sense of community and genuine empathy for everyone — victim and offender alike. Glen is remembered as being very level-headed, caring and supportive with a great sense of humour and had the ability to make light of any situation to calm people.
Constable Joshua Prestney
Constable Joshua Prestney, 28, completed a Bachelor in Creative Industries at the Australian College of the Arts prior to joining Victoria Police in May 2019.
Josh was a much loved and respected member of his squad. His brother, First Constable Alexander Prestney, is also a police officer and presented Josh with his badge when he graduated in December last year. Most recently Josh had been stationed at Boroondara.
In his spare time Josh enjoyed keeping fit and trained for and competed in triathlons.
He is survived by his parents, Andrew and Belinda, and his brother, First Constable Alex Prestney.
Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor
Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor had a distinguished 31-year career with Victoria Police, joining in January 1989 and graduating in May of that year. Lynette was recognised by the Chief Commissioner for good work while performing duties at the Traffic Camera Office and was the recipient of National Medal first clasp — 25 years, National Police Service medal and the VictoriaPolice Service medal fourth clasp — 30 years.
She quickly progressed from general duties policing into traffic and road policing roles early in her career and worked in the Road Policing (Drug and Alcohol Section) Operations Unit since 2011.
Lynette is survived by her husband, a former Victoria Police officer, Stuart Schultz, and their two sons, Nathan and Alexander. Having travelled the world, Lynette is remembered for having a great sense of adventure and has instilled this spirit in her children.
She spent a year sailing around the South Pacific on a yacht, which she continued to live on for a period when she returned.
Lynette and her husband Stuart were building their dream retirement home overlooking Bass Strait on Victoria’s southeast coast, which would support their passion for travel and fishing.
Lynette was the primary carer for her sister, who had recently suffered a stroke, and this reflected her caring nature, which extended to those she worked with.
Lynette had a reputation of going into bat for others and challenging decisions that she believed were unfair.
She had a great sense of humour and her colleagues will fondly remember seeing her smiling face every day.
Senior Constable Kevin King
Leading Senior Constable Kevin King was with Victoria Police for six years, working at several stations in and around Melbourne before joining the Nunawading Highway patrol in April 2019.
Kevin was passionate about road policing and knew that it was not just about giving out tickets.
He transferred to the Nunawading Highway Patrol in 2018 where the Officer in Charge described him as “an older head with a lot of life experience who always made good judgement calls and decisions”.
“He was a terrific bloke. A lovely, all round good bloke who took to road policing immediately,” the the Officer in Charge said.
“He would do anything in his power to not let you down. He always just wanted to laugh, have a good time, and talk about footy. It’s just devastating to lose a bloke like that.”
The 50-year-old father of three was well liked, well respected and well regarded by his colleagues. He had a great sense of humour, loved coming to work, and he loved what he did.
Kevin is survived by his wife, Sharron Mackenzie, and their three children, William, James and Henry.
Tributes from the top
Victoria’s top cop has paid tribute to the four officers killed in a horror crash on Wednesday night, saying their names will never be forgotten.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said the police community was in mourning after the deaths of Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor, Constable Glen Humphris, Senior Constable Kevin King and Constable Josh Prestney.
“Their names will forever be remembered, their service honoured, and their memories celebrated,” he said.
“These officers were undertaking their everyday duties in helping to keep the community safe when they were killed.”
The four officers were killed on Wednesday night when a truck ploughed into their road stop on the Eastern Freeway near Kew after they’d pulled over a speeding black Porsche.
Commissioner Ashton vowed to investigate the incident as he extended his condolences to the family of the victims.
“Committing one’s life to serving and protecting others is a truly unique attribute,” he said.
“It takes a special person to put on the blue uniform and turn up to work each day to respond to those in need.”
Commissioner Ashton urged the Victoria Police community to support each other in the wake of the deaths and he thanked the community for their support.
“We stand side-by-side in our daily response to the Victorian community,” he said.
“And today we stand side-by-side as we reflect and grieve.”
A young Victoria Police officer killed in the crash was “proud to serve’’ and had graduated from the academy just months before the horrific accident claimed his life.
Constable Prestney, 28, has been remembered as a “beautiful” and “talented” young man by his grandmother Eliza Anderson. Ms Anderson told the Herald Sun her grandson only graduated from the police academy in November last year.
“Josh was 28. He only graduated in November,” she said. “He was just on a stint before being at Kew station. He had only started on this on Tuesday.”
Melbourne landmarks including Flinders Street Station, the Arts Centre, National Gallery of Victoria, Royal Exhibition Building, Bolte Bridge and CityLink Sound Tube will be lit up in blue on Thursday evening to honour the four Victoria Police members killed.
Announcing the tribute, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said four families and countless mates and colleagues were mourning an “unspeakable loss”.
Four families are grieving. Countless mates and colleagues are mourning an unspeakable loss.
— Dan Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) April 23, 2020
No words can ease that pain.
But tonight, as a mark of respect – and in honour of the sacrifice our police make every day – landmarks across our state will be lit up blue.
“No words can ease that pain,” Mr Andews tweeted.
“But tonight, as a mark of respect – and in honour of the sacrifice our police make every day – landmarks across our state will be lit up blue.”
‘Speeding’ Porsche driver arrested
The Porsche 911 driver was arrested more than 12 hours after allegedly fleeing from the scene of a truck crash which killed four police officers in Melbourne.
The 41-year-old man, who is known to police, is being interviewed by homicide detectives on Thursday after allegedly fleeing the Kew crash last night.
“Police have located the driver of a Porsche believed to be involved in the fatal collision involving the death of four police members in Kew yesterday,” a police statement reads.
“He is currently being spoken to by police and is assisting Homicide Squad detectives in relation to the investigation. The investigation into the exact cause of the collision remains ongoing.”
The four police officers, one male and one female senior constable and two male constables, were killed after a truck collided into them about 5.40pm on Wednesday as they apprehended the Porsche driver on Melbourne’s Eastern Freeway.
The man had allegedly been travelling at 140km/h, returned a positive drug test and had an “extensive” criminal record, Commissioner Ashton said on Thursday morning.
Mr Ashton also revealed the man had allegedly taken and then posted graphic photographs of the crash scene on Facebook after fleeing on foot.
Police said they were involved in an operation to interview the driver of the Porsche 911 and had pulled the speeding car over in an emergency lane on the Eastern Freeway near Chandler Highway. It is believed a refrigerated truck ploughed into the officers as they stood in the emergency lane.
Ashton: I’m absolutely disgusted
Mr Ashton said police believed the Porsche driver had stayed at the crash scene for a “very short time” and taken photos before fleeing on foot. He said the photos had been circulated to the man’s friends, as well as on Facebook.
“We’re trying to get them removed from Facebook. They’re quite graphic photos,” Mr Ashton said. Asked what he thought of the man’s actions, Mr Ashton said: “Well they’re disgusting”.
“But I don’t want to pre-empt the interview with this fellow and what might flow from that.
“It’s an indictable offence to leave the scene of an accident, so we need work through that and understand his knowledge of his involvement as part of our investigation.
“Certainly as the Chief Commissioner, to have four officers killed last night dealing with someone who was speeding and driving erratically on the freeway, with an extensive criminal history, it disgusts me.
“Today we’ll be spending time with the family members of those deceased officers. I can tell you, I’m absolutely disgusted. To leave the scene is a very, very low act, and if I wasn’t wearing this uniform of Chief Commissioner, I’d be using much more colourful language than that.”
A coronial investigation into the horror crash has begun. Victorian State Coroner John Cain and Coroner Darren Bracken commenced the investigation on Wednesday night when they attended the crash site on the Eastern Freeway in Kew. Coroner Bracken has directed Victoria Police to compile a brief of evidence for the investigation. Victorian coroners are able to make policy and legislative recommendations to prevent similar accidents from occurring. As well, the role of the coroner is to determine the identity of the deceased as well as the cause of death and the circumstances in which the crash occurred.
What police know so far
Mr Ashton said the officers called for highway patrol support to impound the vehicle, with a highway patrol vehicle containing two police members arriving a short time later. “They got out of their vehicle, and it was only a short time later that a truck, a refrigerated semi, has come along that freeway,” Mr Ashton said.
“It’s still quite early in the investigation to describe exactly the movements of that vehicle in terms of being able to piece it together with video from the freeway and video-cam from the officers, but the truck itself appears to have moved from one of the traffic lanes in the freeway to the emergency lane, and to have travelled a short distance in the emergency lane at around about 100km/h and has slammed into the rear of the highway patrol vehicle, and then it’s caused a collision which proceeded to include the vehicle from the (road policing) unit, and then indeed the Porsche 911 itself.
“The highway patrol vehicle was spun from that accident across the (four lane) freeway to the nature strip in the centre of the freeway, and the Porsche was rammed underneath the truck.”
Driver had ‘extensive criminal history’
Mr Ashton said the Porsche driver was known to police. “He has an extensive criminal history, involving a range of different criminal backgrounds,” the Chief Commissioner said of the man. “I’ve been asked this morning not to name him. I understand that he is going to attend one of our police stations this morning. Contact has been made with him through the night and he’s presenting himself this morning. As soon as we are able to, his identity will be known to you.”
Mr Ashton said police were in contact with Facebook regarding images allegedly placed on the social networking site that appear to have been taken by the man at the scene.
“Some of those photographs were circulating last night online,” he said, asking anyone who came across the pictures to refer them to Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000.
Mr Ashton also urged people who had recorded dashcam footage of the incident to contact police.
He said an online memorial would be made available later on Thursday to commemorate the four deceased police officers and called for those wishing to pay their respects to do so online rather than bringing flowers in person in light of COVID-19 physical distancing restrictions.
Alarming dashcam video emerges
Extraordinary footage emerged on Thursday of a speeding black Porsche 911 with what it appears to be the same registration plate as the vehicle at the centre of investigations into the tragedy. The crushed car carried the number plate LLC-001. The letters QLD run vertically down the side of the plate.
A Melbourne man posted footage on social media of the black Porsche carrying LLC 001 number plate speeding recklessly down Melbourne’s Eastern Fwy in March, near where the accident occurred.
The man who posted the video dashcam footage was travelling at 90km/h and was left almost at a standstill as the black Porsche roared past last month. The man lamented on Facebook: “I reported this vehicle to the police a few weeks ago and gave them a copy of my dashcam video footage, but unfortunately it appears that this driver continued to drive on our roads.’’
Mr Ashton said investigators were aware of the footage of the speeding Porsche and would investigate possible links between it and the smash. “We are still looking at that footage but it does appear to be a very similar vehicle,” he said. “The investigators have got that footage. Just to my eye, it (the car) looks pretty similar.”
The tragedy is the single biggest loss of life for Victoria Police since its establishment in 1853. Previously the state’s largest police casualty was the Kelly Gang’s murder of Sergeant Michael Kennedy and constables Thomas Lonigan and Michael Scanlan at Stringybark Creek in 1878.
Flags are flying at half mast at Victoria Police’s Docklands headquarters.
Mr Ashton said it was a “tragic day” for the force, following the largest police mass-casualty event in Victoria’s history. “It’s a tragic day for obviously the families of these officers. We feel very deeply for them,” he said. “The whole force is reeling this morning from what’s occurred last night.”
Mr Ashton said police had immediately attended the scene as several good Samaritans attempted unsuccessfully to provide first aid to the four police officers, who died at the scene.
“The driver of the truck has had a medical episode following the accident which seemed to involve him blacking out,” he said.
The truck driver was then conveyed to hospital, where he remains.
“We’re hoping to get to interview him some time today,” Mr Ashton said.
He said a warrant had been executed at the truck driver’s home in Cranbourne, in Melbourne’s outer southeast on Wednesday night. “What was found at that premises is still the subject of an ongoing investigation,” Mr Ashton said.
It appears at least some of the police were outside their vehicles, with pictures showing a highway patrol car extensively damaged, having been struck from behind.
Another apparently unmarked police vehicle also was struck from behind. The semi-trailer eventually stopped in the emergency lane, with the smash sparking traffic chaos across Melbourne’s east.
Dozens of police, fire and ambulance personnel swarmed the area, in what one senior policeman said was a “total tragedy for the force’’. “It’s a terrible scene, a terrible outcome,’’ he said.
Detectives from the Homicide Squad were quick on the scene and investigating how it unfolded.
The Porsche was wedged under the front of the semi-trailer, the driver’s side covered by a blue plastic tarpaulin. The smash will lead to an internal police investigation to determine whether protocols were followed when the Porsche was stopped. The accident occurred in a 100km/h zone on the freeway, which is about 5km east of the city’s CBD and is normally busy with peak-hour commuters.
While there is an emergency lane, it is relatively narrow and a potentially difficult piece of road for police to intercept cars.
The cars were hit between the Chandler Highway and Burke Road overpasses on the inbound lane near Kew. One line of inquiry is expected to be whether the semi-trailer driver strayed into the emergency lane.
The truck was operated by the firm Connect Logistics.
Premier Andrews deeply saddened
Joining the Chief Commissioner and Police Minister Lisa Neville at police headquarters in Melbourne’s Docklands, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said he had been deeply saddened by the “terrible incident”.
“Every single member of Victoria Police put themselves in harm’s way every hour of every day in order to keep the rest of us safe,” Mr Andrews said.
“Their commitment to others, their professionalism, their courage is without question.
“Yesterday we had a tragic reminder of the risks, the dangers and the tragedy that that work can involve.
“On behalf of every single Victorian, I send the best wishes, the thoughts and prayers of all of us to the families of the four members of Victorian Police who died keeping the rest of us safe.”
Mr Andrews said the “terrible tragedy” had been made worse by the fact that Victoria is currently facing challenges presented by the coronavirus pandemic.
“I want to thank those members of police for the work that they are doing right now, the members of Victoria Police who are out there putting themselves in harm’s way to make sure that the rest of us are safe,” Mr Andrews said.
“Their commitment, their professionalism, their service, we honour that today, the memories of those we lost yesterday, their families, their friends, their colleagues.
“Today I ask all Victorians to pause and honour every single member of Victoria Police for the work that they do, for the service that they offer.
“To live a life in the service of others is a deeply impressive thing. To lose your life in the service and protection of others is a tragedy.
“We honour those who have lost. We send our best wishes to their families. We send our best wishes and support to those who worked alongside them, and we all of us hopefully today can come together and spend just a moment, thinking about every member of Victorian Police, and through that moment of quiet reflection, hopefully send our best wishes to every single member of Victoria Police.
“They do an amazing job and we’ve been tragically reminded just how dangerous that job can be.”
Victorian Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien said today was a day for Victorians to “put our arms around Victoria Police”.
“This is a tragic day for all Victorians,” Mr O’Brien said on his way into parliament for an emergency sitting to pass urgent coronavirus-related legislation.
“Today we need to rededicate ourselves to doing everything we can to support Victoria Police men and women.
“Only when you see a tragedy like this does it become so clear what Victoria Police officers do every day to put themselves at risk, to put themselves in harm’s way to keep us safe, so today my heart breaks for those men and women, for their families.
“My heart breaks for all Victoria Police members who are feeling this tragic loss, and with all Victorians we put our arms around Victoria Police. You’ve all had our back, well today we’ve got yours.”
Scott Morrison on Wednesday night described the news as “awful” and “heartbreaking”.
“My deepest sympathies go out to their families, fellow officers and friends at this terrible time,” the Prime Minister tweeted.
Awful, heart-breaking news that four police officers have been killed while on duty in Melbourne tonight. My deepest sympathies go out to their families, fellow officers and friends at this terrible time. https://t.co/alHJZO52wU
— Scott Morrison (@ScottMorrisonMP) April 22, 2020
Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, whose seat of Kooyong takes in Kew, said he was “heartbroken” by the news of the “horrific incident”.
Heartbroken by the news that four on-duty @VictoriaPolice officers were killed tonight in an horrific incident in Kew. Our thoughts and prayers are with their families, colleagues & the first responders at this tragic time.
— Josh Frydenberg (@JoshFrydenberg) April 22, 2020
Police Association of 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 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.” Ambulance Victoria said: “Tonight all of us … grieve with our Victoria Police brothers and sisters. We are family and our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with you all at this incredibly difficult time.’’
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