The former mortgage broker who fled the scene of a crash that killed four police officers was previously jailed for assault and clocked speeding 70km/h over the limit.
Richard Pusey, 41, was pulled over for travelling at 140km/h on the Eastern Freeway in Melbourne around 4.50pm on Wednesday and allegedly tested positive to drugs.
A truck then at 5.40pm ploughed into the group of police standing at the roadside, killing four officers, before Pusey allegedly fled on foot.
Leading Senior Constable Lynette Taylor, Constable Glen Humphris, Senior Constable Kevin King and Constable Josh Prestney were all killed.
Richard Pusey, 41, is a disgraced former mortgage broker with an extensive criminal history
Richard Pusey, 41, was pulled over for travelling at 140km/h on the Eastern Freeway in Melbourne around 4.50pm on Wednesday
The police car that arrived at the scene was crushed by a refrigeration truck – killing four police officers who were standing by the roadside
Pusey has at least 13 previous charges, beginning in 2007 when he was convicted of speeding 70km/h over the limit and fined $210.
The following year he was jailed for eight months, with half of it suspended for two years, and $346 compensation for intentionally causing injury.
An assaulting police charge from the same incident was dropped.
Fast forward to 2014 and he was convicted and fined $2,000 plus $2,500 in costs for carrying out work without a building permit.
In 2016 he was ordered to do 60 hours of community service for stalking.
Pusey committed three crimes in 2017. He was fined $500 for contravening a safety intervention order, and fined $200 for driving with a suspended licence.
The same year he was fined $500 for emitting excessive noise from his house.
A year later he was convicted and fined $750 for using a carriage service to menace, and a charge of intentionally damaging property was dropped.
Pusey has at least 13 previous charges, beginning in 2007 when he was convicted of speeding 70km/h over the limit and fined $210
Pusey, 41, was taken from his house in Fitzroy on Thursday afternoon after being interrogated
He wore a facemask and faces a string of potential charges including traffic offences and leaving the scene of an accident
At the time of the crash on Wednesday he was on bail for an assault charge to be heard in court on April 30, and one of criminal damage set for June 16.
Pusey was arrested at Chemist Warehouse in Collingwood about 9.30am on Thursday after more than 12 hours on the run.
Victorian Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton alleged Pusey also took photos of the scene and posted them on Facebook.
Pusey, who ran Switch Now Home Loans until last July, is an avid social media user who frequently uploads videos of himself racing his Porsche 911.
His car, which was also filmed speeding down the same highway on March 21, also features prominently in his dozens of TripAdvisor reviews of anything from pubs to the Melbourne Airport Skybus.
‘I like to drive behind the bus in my Porsche because it doesn’t have wifi,’ he wrote in a review of the Skybus in October 2018.
‘I set the cruise control so as to allow me to social network and all that cool new age type stuff that’s all the rage.
‘Me and my Porsche enjoy the day out doing this activity.’
His car, which was also filmed speeding down the same highway on March 21, also features prominently in his dozens of TripAdvisor reviews
‘I like to drive behind the bus in my Porsche because it doesn’t have wifi,’ he wrote in a review of the Skybus in October 2018
In another review he referred to a helicopter service as a ‘Porsche in the sky’ and again spoke of his penchant for stealing the Skybus wifi
In another review he referred to a helicopter service as a ‘Porsche in the sky’ and again spoke of his penchant for stealing the Skybus wifi.
‘When I’m not racing my Porsche or chasing the sky bus for it’s free wifi I like to get up and dance,’ he wrote.
Pusey is extremely well travelled, having posted reviews from Paris, Amsterdam, Moscow, Minsk, Prague, Hong Kong, Bangkok, four cities in Ukraine, and all over Vietnam and Japan.
He also had disputes with at least two tradesmen over a 2014 kitchen rebuild at his home that ended up in the Victorian Supreme Court.
The stingy home loan boss was sued for non-payment of the $6,006 kitchen and made a counterclaim for $35,500, claiming the kitchen was ‘defective’.
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal dismissed his counterclaim as an ‘abuse of process’ and the Supreme Court upheld this on appeal.
Pusey, who runs Switch Now Home Loans, is an avid social media user who frequently uploads videos of himself racing his Porsche 911 – the same one in the crash
Pusey (right) appeared in a report on A Current Affair in 2016 where he was accused of abusing the tradies involved, and their families
Pusey appeared in a report on A Current Affair in 2016 where he was accused of abusing the tradies involved, and their families.
Dubbed ‘Richie Rich’ and ‘Australia’s nastiest customer’, Pusey screamed at one of their wives that he hoped she died, just after she got out of hospital where she had breast cancer treatment.
‘Get some more f**king cancer you stupid f**king sl*t, I hope you f**king die,’ he was filmed yelling through their door.
When confronted by ACA he was asked on camera: ‘Who screams at a cancer patient?’ He responded: ‘Oh right, is that what that is, is it?’
Pusey was named Australia’s 28th best mortgage broker in 2016 by industry magazine Mortgage Professional Australia.
He sold a historic building on Guildford Lane in the Melbourne CBD for $4.4 million in September, after buying it in 2017 for just $2.8 million and renting it to a cat cafe.
Pusey hours before his arrest made contact with police and was urged to turn himself in. He is now assisting homicide detectives with the investigation.
Mohinder Singh Bajwa, the driver of the truck – who had a ‘medical episode’ – remains under police guard in hospital.
Three male officers – including one in his first week in the job – and a female senior constable who were standing in the emergency lane on the side of the freeway were killed when the out-of-control truck veered into the group.
Police pulled over a speeding driver at 4.50pm on Wednesday, then proceeded to call for backup from highway patrol when they decided to impound the car. By 5.40pm, the refrigeration truck had ploughed into the three cars and four officers, killing them all
Four police officers were killed when they were struck by a truck (pictured at the tragic scene) in Melbourne, marking the greatest loss of police life in a single incident in Victoria’s history
Commissioner Ashton said the officers were undertaking their everyday duties in helping to keep the community safe when they were killed.
‘They were members of our Road Policing Drug and Alcohol Section and Highway Patrol. They were our colleagues, our friends, our squad mates, our family,’ he said.
‘Each from different backgrounds, each with different life experiences, each with a common goal to keep the community safe.
‘Their families will never be the same and our thoughts and prayers are with them.’
Commissioner Ashton alleged he took photos of the dead police and posted them on Facebook.
A source told Daily Mail Australia the pictures were mostly of the wreckage, and had also been posted to Snapchat.
‘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.’
The first victim has been identified as constable Josh Prestney, who only graduated from the academy in November (pictured)
‘If I wasn’t wearing the uniform of Chief Commissioner, I would give you far more colourful language,’ Commissioner Ashton said
The black Porsche sped past him and was gone in a flash – as seen on dashcam footage from March 21
Emergency services took the bodies of the four police officers away from the scene
He went on to say the driver’s actions were ‘very, very low’, made worse by the decision to share photos of the grisly scene to friends.
‘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.’
Chicken truck driver Mohinder Singh Bajwa blacked out following the accident on the Eastern Freeway near Kew, Melbourne, on Wednesday evening
Josh Prestney, a 28-year-old constable who had only started in the road policing department on Tuesday was killed at the scene.
Mr Prestney only graduated from the academy in November, and was working a short stint in the unit before he was to be transferred to Kew police station in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.
Another officer had reportedly been part of the team for eight years – leaving behind a devastated wife and children, his cousin, Trevor, told 3AW on Thursday.
‘It’s just devastating. They’re not a number, they’re a name, they’re a family member, they’re a friend, they’re a cousin, they’re an uncle and a brother, or a husband, or a wife,’ he said.
Commissioner Ashton said they expected to interview Mr Bajwa, who was driving the truck, later on Thursday.
‘He is from Cranbourne and we did a warrant through the night at his premises,’ he said. ‘What was found at that premises is still the subject of ongoing investigation.’
Mr Bajwa’s university student son, Gurdeep, declined to comment on the investigation.
‘I’m not able to talk to anyone, not able to share any comments,’ he said. ‘I’m not able to speak’.
Connect Logistics, the company which owns the truck, did not answer calls.
This morning Police and Protective Services Officer 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
Emergency services were called to the scene to remove the truck, as well as the three crushed cars
Police believe the truck veered into the emergency lane and travelled ‘some distance’ before colliding with the cars – and officers – at about 100km/h.
It comes as chilling footage emerges of the Porsche speeding down the same highway a month before it was involved in the accident.
Motorist James Tsagros saw the exact same car ‘flying’ down the same freeway at ‘scary’ speeds on March 21.
When officers from the road policing drug and alcohol unit pulled the Porsche over on Wednesday night, they made the decision to impound the luxury sports car.
They called a nearby highway patrol car for backup. As the officers arrived, the refrigeration truck ploughed into all three stopped cars, killing the two senior constables and two officers as they stood in the emergency lane.
Pictured: Moments before the truck ploughed into the officers and the Porsche, as officers speak with the driver in the emergency lane of the freeway
Flowers have begun piling up outsied the Boroondara Police Station in Melbourne’s north-east
Shattered police colleagues and emergency workers across Australia paid tribute to the fallen officers in what is the greatest loss of police life in a single incident in Victoria’s history.
Chief Commissioner Ashton said detectives were trying to piece together what led to the crash, but labelled the tragedy a ‘crime’.
When asked why homicide detectives were at the scene on Wednesday night, he replied: ‘Those officers (who died) have been victims of a crime.’
The incident represented the largest loss of life for Victoria Police in a single incident, eclipsing the loss of three officers gunned down by bushranger Ned Kelly in the state’s north-east in 1878.
Word quickly spread throughout the force as grieving officers changed their Facebook profile photos to one of a fallen angel in honour of their dead colleagues.
‘It’s absolutely f***ed… Trying to find out exactly what happened… A real horrible and shocking tragedy,’ one shattered officer wrote.
‘No words,’ another posted alongside a photo of the Victoria Police emblem.
Many of the killed officers’ colleagues changed their Twitter profiles to the same fallen angel picture.
‘To my Victoria Police colleagues, first responders, investigators and most importantly the families of officers- my heart goes out to you all,’ one wrote.
The truck ploughed into two parked police cars and a black Porsche, which is pictured covered in a blue tarp. The driver of the luxury sports car allegedly fled the scene
‘This is an incomprehensible tragedy… I have no more words but to say look after each other & reach out to your support networks. Take care.’
A GoFundMe campaign has been launched by a member of the Narre Warren Police Department in Victoria to support the families of the victims.
Senior Constable Steven Pope is aiming to raise a total of $2million, or $500,000 for each family.
More than $29,300 has been raised by 442 donors in just 12 hours.
‘This is a brutal reminder of the danger police face in the course of their service, every minute of every shift,’ Constable Pope said.
‘Whilst we mourn their loss, we grieve with their families and colleagues. Whilst money can never replace a lost loved one, the financial stresses can take their toll.’
The tragedy has rocked officers and emergency service workers throughout the nation
Emergency services were on the scene on Wednesday night to remove the wreckage from the scene on the Melbourne freeway
Victoria Police was inundated with heartfelt tributes from interstate colleagues
‘There’s an eerie quiet down there [at the scene], everyone down there is feeling it at the moment,’ Commissioner Ashton said in a conference on Wednesday night.
‘It can sometimes seem mundane and then can suddenly seem very very tragic.’
It is unlikely the four officers will receive a traditional large scale police send off – as coronavirus restrictions limit funerals to no more than 10 people to slow the spread of the virus.
‘If we’re still in restrictions, we won’t be able to have those large scale remembrance ceremonies we traditionally have to honour our police officers,’ Commissioner Ashton said.
Police Association Victoria secretary Wayne Gatt said the deaths have floored the police force.
‘This will be felt in every police station, in every mess room, in every watch-house across the state tonight,’ he told reporters late Wednesday.
Police confirmed one female and three male officers were killed in a horror crash in Melbourne
The crash on Melbourne’s busy Eastern Freeway sparked chaos on Wednesday night
‘Those members, today, when they started their shift came to work expecting to protect the community. That much they did do. That much we are proud of them for doing.
‘These police officers were doing something that we do 10 times, 20 times, 30 times a shift – intercepting a motor vehicle on the side of the road, this is the bread and butter of policing,’ he told reporters.
‘This isn’t stuff that you go to do and expect to be killed doing. But each and every time a police officer does that for the next little while, they’ll have this in the back of their minds, there’s no doubt.’
Witnessed described the scene as carnage.
‘There were civilians trying to run around and help, it was horrible,’ one told the Herald Sun.
Debris from the fatal crash was scattered along the Eastern Freeway, which remains closed
It’s understood a semi trailer (pictured) ploughed into two parked police cars and a Porsche
Dan Smith was heading outbound along the freeway when he saw at flashing lights, least 12 to 14 police cars and several ambulances at the scene.
‘The police members were sprinting from their cars,’ he told the Age. ‘I could see the truck and then I saw the crumpled mess of the Porsche.’
A half-crushed silver highway patrol car was sitting on the grass on the median strip.
All lanes of the Eastern Freeway were closed between Bulleen Road and the Chandler Highway for most of the night as officers from the homicide squad and major collision units investigated.
The Coroner also visited the scene on Wednesday night.
Photos of the scene show a damaged police highway patrol car and an SUV that had been struck near a large, white semi-trailer.
The black Porsche crumpled beneath the truck was covered in a blue tarp.
Police urge anyone who witnessed or has information in relation to the crash to contact Crime Stoppers.
All lanes of the Eastern Freeway are closed due to a fatal crash involving a truck (pictured)
Four police officers were killed in the horror crash. Pictured is the tragic scene
Traffic was banked up on the Eastern Freeway for more than a kilometre due to the crash