'Heartless': Mortgage broker jailed after filming himself mocking dying police
28 April 2021, 11:16 | Updated: 28 April 2021, 11:20
A mortgage broker has been jailed for "heartlessly" filming and mocking four dead and dying police officers after they were hit by a truck in Australia.
"Callous" Richard Pusey, 42, was pulled over for driving his Porsche at 93mph on Melbourne's Eastern Freeway in April last year.
He had been well over the 62mph limit and officers were considering impounding his car.
A truck then crashed into the four officers, two police cars and the Porsche in the emergency stopping lane.
Kevin King, Josh Prestney, Lynette Taylor and Glen Humphris were killed in the incident.
Pusey, who had been urinating in roadside bushes and avoided injury, did not help but instead filmed what had happened.
He commentated on the horrific scene, saying in between expletives "he's smashed", "justice", "absolutely amazing" and "beautiful".
"I think everyone got cleaned up," Pusey said during the recording. "I guess I'll be getting a ... Uber home, huh?"
Five bystanders came to help the officers and when one asked Pusey to help, he replied "they're dead" and carried on filming.
Sentencing Pusey to 10 months in prison, backdated to when he was taken into custody 296 days ago, Judge Trevor Wraight said the defendant's actions were "callous and reprehensible".
"Your conduct ... was heartless, cruel and disgraceful," he added.
Pusey had pleaded guilty in the Victoria state county court to outraging public decency over his commentary – the first prosecution of that charge in the state since 1963.
He also admitted reckless conduct endangering persons, a more serious charge.
The judge said ongoing media coverage showed the "public has demonised you", and added that the defendant's personality disorder may go some way to explaining his behaviour.
Pusey, who also pleaded guilty to speeding offences and possessing ecstasy - which he tested positive for at the roadside - was also fined 1,000 Australian dollars (£556) and disqualified from driving for two years.
His sentence is almost completed due to the backdating but he is likely to remain in custody for unrelated charges.
The husband of Lynette Taylor, one of the officers who died in the incident, said the sentence was "too lenient".
Stuart Schulze added that it was "totally inappropriate" while Wayne Gatt, secretary of the Victoria Police Association union, said Pusey is a "worthless individual".
"Each and every one of us will face our mortality one day. When his day comes, I hope that he faces the same coldness and the same callousness with which he provided my members when they faced theirs,” Mr Gatt added.
Mohinder Singh, the truck driver, was given 22 years in prison two weeks ago.
He had been under the influence of drugs and was sleep-deprived when he struck the officers.
He pleaded guilty to four counts of culpable driving causing death, three charges of drug trafficking and one of possessing illicit drugs.
