Police say the driver of a Porsche involved in an accident that left four Victorian police officers dead took photos before fleeing the scene.
The 41-year-old driver, who has an “extensive criminal record”, was pulled over on the Eastern Freeway by two police officers on Wednesday afternoon for alleged speeding.
Police took a drug test at the scene and the driver returned “a positive result for some type of drug in the system,” Victoria Police Commissioner Graham Ashton told reporters on Thursday morning.
Two more police were called to the scene to impound the Porsche.
As the group were going about their work in the emergency lane of the freeway, they were hit by an oncoming truck and killed at the scene.
The truck driver is under police guard in hospital after having a medical episode at the scene of the accident which involved him “blacking out.”
Photos On Facebook
Police allege the driver of the Porsche took photos before leaving the scene on foot.
“There has been some images placed on Facebook that appear to have been taken by this individual at the scene, before he has left the scene,” Commissioner Ashton said.
“And some of those photographs were circulating last night online. So, I would ask if anyone is finding photographs online, not to further circulate them.”
Victoria Police were working with Facebook on Thursday to remove the images from the social networking site.
“I have been asked this morning not to name him. I understand that he is going to be attending one of our police stations this morning,” Ashton added.
Police have called for motorists with dash cam footage that may have been on the Eastern Freeway yesterday to come forward to help with investigations.
The tragedy is the largest single loss of life in terms of police lives lost in one incident in the history of Victoria Police.
“I’m not aware of another occasion when we’ve lost four Victoria Police members in one incident such as this,” he said.
“So, it’s a very, very tragic night for Victoria Police, and again just highlights the dangers that go with doing police work and the everyday nature of police work can sometimes seem mundane and then suddenly seem very, very tragic in terms of consequences.”