The four police officer victims of Wednesday’s horror crash in Melbourne have been named, as Victoria police and the prime minister led tributes.
The four who died were leading senior constable Lynette Taylor, constable Glen Humphris, senior constable Kevin King and constable Josh Prestney.
Taylor was with the Road Policing Drug and Alcohol section, joined by Humphris who was on placement as part of his probationary constable extended training.
Prestney similarly was on placement with King, who was part of Nunawading Highway Patrol.
The loss of four officers, killed when a poultry truck slammed into them on the Eastern Freeway, was the greatest in any single day of the force’s history.
Taylor had a 31-year career with Victoria Police joining in 1989. She was the recipient of the National Medal first clasp – 25 years, National Police Service medal and the Victoria Police Service medal fourth clasp – 30 years.
She spent a year sailing around the South Pacific on a yacht which she continued to live on for a while when she returned.
Taylor is survived by her husband and fellow police officer, Stuart Schultz, and their two sons, Nathan and Alexander.
Humphris became a police officer in 2019, shortly after moving to Melbourne with his partner of four years, Todd.
Prior to joining Victoria Police he worked as a sports scientist and exercise physiologist.
“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,” Victoria Police said in his obituary.
“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.”
Prestney graduated from the police academy in November. He had started work in his current posting on Tuesday, the day before the accident.
His grandmother, Eliza Anderson, spoke of how proud she was of her grandson for serving in the police force, and how much his family would miss him.
“We were so proud of you. God bless Josh. Miss you forever.”
In his spare time, Prestney trained for and competed in triathlons, and is survived by his parents, Andrew and Belinda, and his brother, first constable Alex Prestney.
King had been with Victoria Police for six years, in a number of stations in and around Melbourne before joining the Nunawading highway patrol in April 2019.
He was described by the officer in charge as “an older head with a lot of life experience who always made good judgement calls and decisions. He was a terrific bloke.”
The 50-year-old is survived by his wife, Sharron Mackenzie, and their three children, William, James and Henry.
Victoria police and recruits paid tribute to their colleagues with a minute’s silence on Thursday morning.
Flowers were laid in tribute at the Boroondara police station, near the crash site. The Victoria police commissioner, Graham Ashton, urged people to maintain safe social distancing, and if possible pay tribute online.
Scott Morrison expressed his condolences and thanked Victoria’s police force at a press conference on Thursday.
This morning Police and PSO recruits, instructors and staff at the Victoria Police Academy formed up on the parade ground (for a minute’s silence) to pay their respect and honour their fallen friends and colleagues who so tragically died in the line of duty yesterday evening. pic.twitter.com/DKv9P7lI7y
— Victoria Police (@VictoriaPolice) April 23, 2020
“You step up every day, you stand between us and that danger every single day, and we are deeply grateful for your service, deeply grateful for your sacrifice, and to those families who are knowing nothing other than terrible grief today, we stand with you as much as we possibly can.”
The mayor of Melbourne, Sally Capp, said flags would be flown at half-mast and the town hall would be illuminated in blue on Thursday night as a sign of respect.
Police forces from around Australia and overseas also paid tribute.
It was still unclear on Thursday exactly how the crash happened. Ashton said two officers intercepted a Porsche 911 that was reportedly travelling at 140km/h just before 5pm on Wednesday afternoon.
The two officers drug-tested the 41-year-old male driver, identified as Richard Pusey. After he allegedly returned a positive result, the officers decided to impound the car, Ashton said. Shortly after the two highway patrol officers were called to assist at the scene, a large refrigerated truck drove into the four officers.
“It is still quite early in the investigation to describe exactly the movements of that vehicle,” Ashton said.
“The truck itself appears to have moved from one of the traffic lanes in the freeway into the emergency lane and has travelled a short distance in the emergency lane at around about 100km/h and slammed into the rear of the highway patrol vehicle.”
The truck driver had a medical episode at the scene and was taken to hospital under police guard. On Thursday morning police executed a search warrant at his Cranbourne property. Ashton said police hoped to interview him later in the day.
Ashton said after the four officers had been hit, the Porsche driver fled on foot. He was subsequently identified and arrested on Thursday morning.
The cybersafety expert Susan McLean said she was contacted by an officer who was distraught after seeing the images.
“She was hysterical, crying so, so hard, I couldn’t make heads or tails of why she needed me,” McLean said.
“She knew one of the members and in the photos you can clearly see that it was him.”
The picture was posted to a community “crime prevention” Facebook group. McLean said the administrators of the group removed the images after they were called by Victoria police.
“To think how many people on that page could have screenshots or shared that.”
McLean said she contacted Facebook about the photos, and had been told Facebook algorithms would now ban the images from being reposted. Police also said they had been working with Facebook to have all traces of the photographs removed.
