The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, has said there were no feasible safety measures that could have prevented the fatal crash in Melbourne’s CBD on Friday night, as police assure residents the city is “tremendously safe.”
Police say a white Toyota Aurion struck three pedestrians near a tram stop on Bourke Street on Friday evening, before it continued along the street, T-boning another car and killing the 76-year-old driver.
At a press conference on Saturday, the police chief commissioner, Shane Patton, said the suspect had been “unfit” to be interviewed and detectives were working to determine if the incident was a “deliberate or a reckless act”. The man, who is in hospital under police guard, has not been charged.
Andrews acknowledged the event would be traumatic for many in the state reminded of the 2017 incident in Bourke Street Mall car attack, which killed six people and left dozens injured.
The installation of concrete bollards along the mall was part of a range of extra protective measures for pedestrian areas undertaken six years ago in consultation with engineering and security experts.
Additional security upgrades were installed in 2019, including stainless-steel bollards and reinforced barriers beside tram tracks in the mall, at Princes Bridge and Flinders Street station.
Andrews said there were no other engineering treatments available, or practical, that would have prevented Friday night’s incident as tram and road networks would always involve roads intersections and pedestrian traffic.
“I think we’ve done all that we can to fortify footpaths to try and control the movement of traffic,” he said. “I don’t think it’s appropriate or particularly useful to use this terrible incident as a argument for or against the way in which the CBD works.”
The Victoria police chief commissioner, Shane Patton, said there would be reassurance checks in place in Melbourne on Saturday, “making sure that the public can feel reassured Melbourne is a tremendously safe city.”
The driver, a 26-year-old Melton West man, has not been charged. He has been deemed unfit for interview and is under police guard in hospital.
Patton said the suspect was driving his mother’s car when he T-boned the 76-year-old driver of a Hyundai, who died at the scene.
The Hyundai then knocked onto a Mazda. The 37-year-old Uber driver and 30-year-old passenger in the vehicle were taken to hospital after receiving minor seatbelt injuries.
“The suspect got out of his vehicle and stood on the roof of it, and he was making some rantings and utterings,” Patton said.
Patton said those comments would be “quite important” in “assessing whether it was the intention or not to cause these injuries”. The chief commissioner declined to outline the comments at this stage.
Patton said police have at this stage ruled out terrorism being a factor and described the driver as a “clean skin” with no prior criminal history.
without any police record.
“The only record we have of that male is that he has had a reported missing person before and in 2020 we had some involvement with him for a mental health transfer,” Patton said.
Patton said police were still “working through to determine whether this is a deliberate or a reckless act”.
Patton said the driver accelerated after striking the pedestrians. It is estimated he could have been travelling as fast as 60-70km/hr “near the end of his journey, near the point of impact - but that may not be accurate” he said.
The three pedestrians were taken to hospital and are now in a stable condition after being injured “quite seriously,” Patton said. A 26-year-old man from Kew has a suspected fractured pelvis and head trauma, a 35-year-old woman from Docklands has a suspected broken arm and head injuries and a 23-year-old woman from China has a suspected fracture to her neck, a broken pelvis and other injuries.
Patton said three police officers on duty returning to the station came upon the scene. “Courageously and quickly they acted and arrested that male and he was taken into custody.”
Andrews said the suspect is not the subject of a mental health treatment order.
Andrews thanked Victorians who were on scene and stayed and “extended that hand of friendship and love and support to try and comfort people… That’s something that makes you very, very proud.”
Andrews also appealed to any witnesses with mobile or dashcam footage, or saw what happened to contact crimestoppers.
