The driver of a truck that hit and killed four police officers faces the possibility of 20 years in jail after being charged over the crash.
Mohinder Singh Bajwa, 47, was taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital under police guard after police said he suffered a “medical episode” after the crash.
Bajwa has since been charged with four counts of culpable driving and possibly faces a lengthy time in jail if found guilty.
Police allegedly found an ice pipe in his truck cabin and further drug paraphernalia after a search of his home.
The crash killed Leading Senior Constable Lynnette Taylor, Kevin King, Glen Humpris and Josh Prestney while they were on duty.
In Victoria, culpable driving is the most serious traffic offence and carries a sentence of up to 20 years. Police must prove that the driver acted recklessly, negligently or under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
JUST IN: First look at truck driver Mohinder Singh Bajwa as he was driven to MMC in a white forensic suit after 4 nights in hospital. He’s been charged over the fatal Eastern freeway crash which killed four police officers. #7newsmelb pic.twitter.com/X27GKPXYRN
— Teegan Dolling (@tdolling) April 26, 2020
The officers had initially pulled over Richard Pusey, who was allegedly speeding down the Eastern Freeway at 149km/h and had returned a positive reading for ice and marijuana.
Pusey walked away from the incident unscathed as the truck struck the stopped cars as he was urinating beside a tree and is currently accused of taunting Senior Constable Taylor as she was dying.
A Melbourne court heard on Friday that instead of helping the officers, Pusey took pictures and berated the officers. He allegedly filmed Senior Constable Taylor while saying “There you go. Amazing, absolutely amazing.”
“All I wanted was to go home and have my sushi and now you’ve ‘f***ed my f***ing car.”
Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said that he was “disgusted” to learn of the treatment of the officers.
“As chief commissioner, to have four officers killed last night with someone who has clearly been driving erratically on the freeway with an extensive criminal history it disgusts me,” Commissioner Ashton said.
“Today, when I’m spending time with the family members of those deceased officers, I can tell you it will absolutely disgust them.”
“If I wasn’t wearing the uniform of Chief Commissioner, I would give you far more colourful language,” he said.
“We will definitely be able to piece together 99.9 per cent of this. We have got a lot of information to go through in the next few days.
