Australian Man Jailed For Filming, Mocking Dying Police Officers

An Australian man has been given a 10-month jail sentence for taunting and filming police officers while they were dying at a crash scene.

Last month, the man, Richard Pusey, pleaded guilty to the rare charge of outraging public decency, along with other offences. The 42-year-old has already been in custody for almost 300 days, reported BBC.

Last month, Judge Trevor Wraight said that the media had demonized Pusey so much that he was "probably the most hated man in Australia."

In April 2020, Pusey, a mortgage broker, was pulled over by four police officers for driving his Porsche at 93 miles per hour on Melbourne’s Eastern Freeway. While they were making his arrest, all four officers were hit by a truck. Senior Constables Lynette Taylor and Kevin King, and Constables Glen Humphris and Josh Prestney died on the spot.

Pusey was not injured as he had been urinating behind roadside bushes at the time. He did not lend a helping hand, insstead, he started making videos of the incident.

The court had heard that Pusey stood over and taunted Senior Constable Taylor while she was under the lorry. Experts said that she was most likely still alive at the time.

"There you go. Amazing, absolutely amazing," he said, according to vision from the constable's body-worn camera.

When one of the five bystanders who came to the help the officers asked Pusey to provide aide, he replied, "They’re dead," and continued filming, reported Fox News.

"All I wanted was to go home and have some sushi," he added, before blaming the officers for ruining his sports car.

Soon after making the videos, he ran away. The next day he was arrested at his home and initially charged with speeding, drug possession and reckless conduct offences. But then police also found Pusey's video.

On Wednesday, Judge Wraight condemned Pusey's behavior and said that he was only being sentenced for his actions. "Your conduct in recording the police officers in their dying moments, together with the words you used as you recorded, was not only derogatory and horrible... but it was also callous and reprehensible conduct," Judge Wraight added.

He pointed out that Pusey had a history of mental health problems, including a complex personality disorder "which may go some way to explaining your behavior." But he said that it did not excuse his actions.

Pusey had earlier testified he felt ashamed about the videos and that he often said offensive things "because that's how [it] comes out of my head."

He was also fined $1,000 and put on a two-year good behavior bond. His drivers licence has been suspended as well.

Families and supporters of the police officers were not content with the sentence.

Stuart Schulze, the husband of Constable Taylor, said that he felt "almost unbearable" pain every time he remembered how his wife was treated before her death. "This sentence is totally inappropriate of this offending," he added. Schulze said that it was the court's duty to "set the appropriate standard" in penalising such behavior.

The head of Victoria state's police union also criticized the sentence. "Four upstanding heroes died on that day and… one soulless coward lived," Wayne Gatt said.

Meanwhile, the truck driver, Mohinder Singh, has been jailed to 22 years for the deaths.