Victoria Police say they are "very happy" with the way safety bollards installed in response to the 2017 Bourke Street Mall tragedy performed yesterday when another car sped down the mall.
Key points:
- Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius says there was no indication the driver was trying to harm pedestrians
- He says the bollards functioned as intended by providing cover for pedestrians
- Police are looking for two Caucasian males in their late teens or early 20s
During a press conference this morning, Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius also provided a description of the driver during yesterday's incident and a passenger that fled on foot.
Assistant Commissioner Cornelius said police tried to pull over the green Mitsubishi Lancer about 4:55pm on Swanston Street after discovering that the car's licence plates belonged to a different car.
The car turned left onto Bourke Street after being blocked by two trams and drove down the mall towards Elizabeth Street, where it was blocked again by more trams.
"I understand, from what I've been advised, our members were of course concerned about the potential, given the history, [this] may be a hostile vehicle incident," Assistant Commissioner Cornelius said.
"And so, of course, our members had that very much playing in their mind."
The police briefly drew their firearms and a male passenger of the car ran on foot towards Elizabeth Street.
The car then made a U-turn — hitting one of the bollards installed in the mall after the 2017 incident — and drove back along Bourke Street, before heading north up Swanston Street.
Unlike the 2017 incident, Assistant Commissioner Cornelius said the driver of the car yesterday was trying to evade police and there was no indication he was trying to harm pedestrians.
No one was injured in yesterday's incident.
Assistant Commissioner Cornelius said the bollards functioned as intended by providing cover for pedestrians.
"What we saw yesterday afternoon was the members of the public did exactly the right thing. They sought cover," he said.
"And so they actually got behind the bollards and that put them in a position where they were safe from what the driver of the vehicle was trying to do, which we understand was to get away."
Assistant Commissioner Cornelius said the Lancer was later found in an undercover carpark about 6:40pm after being spotted by a member of the public.
He said police were looking for two Caucasian males in their late teens or early 20s.
The driver was believed to have had short, dark hair and been wearing a baseball cap and white golfing-style gloves.
The incident came a little over four years after the 2017 Bourke Street car attack, when a man sped down a footpath and deliberately drove into pedestrians, killing six people.
More to come.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMibGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIxLTAxLTI5L2JvdXJrZS1zdHJlZXQtbWFsbC1ib2xsYXJkcy1rZXB0LXBlZGVzdHJpYW5zLXNhZmUtcG9saWNlLXNheS8xMzEwMTkxMNIBJ2h0dHBzOi8vYW1wLmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvYXJ0aWNsZS8xMzEwMTkxMA?oc=5
2021-01-28 23:40:00Z
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