An investigation into a death in custody heard that police were driving over 130 km / h on a residential street in Melbourne to follow an Aboriginal car because they thought the car looked “seedy”.
Raymond Noel Lindsay Thomas was killed in an accident on Victoria Street in Thornbury on June 25, 2017 after driving on the wrong side of the street and accelerating sharply to escape police.
The accident happened just a minute after his car was discovered by the police and 21 seconds after the police officially called a pursuit.
An investigation into the death will take place in Melbourne over the next two weeks.
The 30-year-old man from Gunnai, Gunditjamara and Wiradjuri, whose parents asked to be named Raymond Noel, was out shopping for chocolate in a supermarket late at night when his black Holden-Commodore was spotted by two police officers on random traffic patrols northern suburbs of Melbourne.
Sergeant John Sybenga, who drove the highway patrol car, told the investigation that he saw a Commodore with license plates from New South Wales turn off a side street on Dundas Street after 11pm, and that made it suspicious.
He made a U-turn to follow before his partner, Senior Constable Deborah McFarlane, who had checked the license plates on the patrol car’s on-board computer, told him the car was unregistered.
“The car was worth a closer look for me because it was suspicious,” said Sybenga of the investigation on Monday. “In my experience, a car that drives on interstate side streets at night in this area is worth checking out. It’s hard to summarize, it was just dodgy. “
After the U-turn, the police car followed the Commodore for approx. 800m along Dundas Street and right into Victoria Road.
Initially, Sybenga said there was no evidence of wrongdoing other than that the car was not registered, which is a minor traffic offense. He said the Commodore had “accelerated a little” and appeared to have exceeded the speed limit, but “not very much” on Dundas Street before turning sharply right onto Victoria Road.
“I had to accelerate to a speed over 50 to catch up,” he said. “I had the feeling that he had spotted the marked car.”
Data from the police car showed that Sybenga sped from 0 to 103 km / h within 100 meters of the U-turn and reached speeds of up to 134 km / h before turning onto Victoria Street.
He told the investigation that he had not turned on any lights or sirens and had not viewed the chase as a formal pursuit until he turned onto Victoria Street and saw debris on the street he was taking to indicate that the Commodore had a parked car had approached.
McFarlane called the chase over the radio and Sybenga accelerated to 156 km / h before deciding to break the chase after the Commodore turned off the curb and disappeared over a hill, the court heard.
McFarlane was holding the radio to call the end of the chase when they climbed the hill and saw the scene of the accident where Raymond Noel was thrown out of the car and clearly died. Instead of breaking off the chase, she said, “He failed. He died. “
At the time of the impact, the distance between Raymond Noel’s car and the police car was 1.6 seconds.
The attorney who assisted Michael Rivette said it was up to coroner John Olle to determine exactly when the persecution actually began. Olle will also determine whether the pursuit of the Commodore is appropriate and whether the Victoria Police’s pursuit policy has been followed.
Both Sybenga and McFarlane have been trained and certified to conduct chases, and Sybenga was also a trained law enforcement officer with over 10 years of experience in the highway patrol. He told the court that he was experienced and familiar with the persecution policy.
According to the 2016 policy, the police do not need to turn on their lights and sirens or officially declare a pursuit for their actions to be considered a pursuit.
A 771-page report prepared for the court by Deputy Commissioner Elizabeth McKenzie stated: “If a vehicle does not stop on instructions or takes deliberate overt action to avoid it and the police continue to be pursued this is a pursuit. “
The McKenzie report states that prosecution must be justified “based on the need to address a serious risk from the perpetrator to the health or safety of all persons and the serious risk must exist”.
The investigation will run until July 2nd.
