A car sped through Melbourne’s Bourke St on Thursday afternoon, causing pedestrians to move out the way and run for cover.
The Toyota Corolla hit a metal bollard at Bourke St Mall before performing a U-turn and heading down Swanston Street and St Kilda Road, according to The Age.
Victoria Police said in a statement that the person in the vehicle refused to stop for officers and then drove into the CBD.
“Police are investigating after a vehicle refused to stop for officers and drove erratically in the Melbourne CBD this afternoon,” the statement said.
“Police attempted to pull over a green Toyota Corolla about 4.55pm at Bourke Street near Swanston Street however the vehicle mounted a kerb and sped off.
“The vehicle was followed by the Victoria Police Air Wing and last sighted in the St Kilda area.”
Dian Jacob (29) told The Age that she saw the car enter Bourke St Mall and crash into one of the metal bollards.
“It was scary, frightening. Obviously I was scared. Now I’m OK,” Jacob said.
Jacob said it reminded her of the horrible Bourke St Mall attack that happened on Jan 20 2017, when James Gargasoulas drove a stolen car through Melbourne’s CBD and Bourke St, killing six people and injuring 27 others. Gargasoulas is now serving a minimum 46-year jail term.
A coroner’s inquest into the Bourke St Mall attack found that there was a lack of assertive leadership from Victoria Police on the day of the attack.
They [Victoria Police] did not provide effective leadership or challenge what was occurring, until a short time after these events when a decision was made to disengage,” Coroner Jacqui Hawkins said.
In a statement made by Victoria Police, they acknowledged the shortcomings of their operational response. But said that over the last four years they have worked on strategies to better deal with incidents like the Bourke St Mall massacre.
“While it is impossible to speculate whether any of these changes would have stopped the devastating outcome on 20 January 2017, the community should know we are committed to doing everything we can to prevent an incident like this from occurring again,” the statement read.
