The triple-0 call made by former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews following a 2013 car accident involving a teenage cyclist has now been made public, shedding new light on an incident that left then-15-year-old Ryan Meuleman with severe injuries.
The audio, recently released by A Current Affair and The Age, captures Andrews’ immediate account of the accident on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, where he and his wife Catherine Andrews were on holiday.
It is reported by SkyNews that at the time of the crash, Andrews was the opposition leader, seated in the passenger seat of his family’s Ford Territory SUV, which Catherine was allegedly driving.
In the recording, Andrews tells the emergency operator:
“We’ve turned right into Ridley Street and a kid’s come flying through on the bike path, and we’ve hit him.”
This statement contrasts with Andrews’ 2013 police report, in which he allegedly stated, “I want to make it clear—the cyclist hit our vehicle,” and claimed the bike “T-boned” the car.
Meuleman, who suffered life-threatening injuries, including broken ribs, a punctured lung, and internal bleeding, required 10 days in hospital and later received an $80,000 payout from the Transport Accident Commission.
Meuleman now contends that the original investigation into the incident was mishandled, prompting his legal team to seek a larger compensation amount and to re-evaluate the actions of his initial representation by Slater & Gordon.
The recording’s release has also reignited concerns over the initial police handling of the case, especially as officers on the scene reportedly failed to breathalyse Catherine Andrews.
Victoria’s Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission had previously investigated the police response but closed the matter in 2017.
However, Meuleman’s father, Peter, describes the triple-0 call as “chilling,” saying it vindicates his son’s version of events and calling for a re-examination of the case.
Talking to A Current Affair, he added:
“Ryan’s version of events has always been that the car hit him and, in his words, came out of nowhere, and sent him into the windscreen and over the back of the car onto the road.”
As the legal battle continues, Andrews, who served as Victoria’s Premier from 2014 until 2023, hasn’t made a comment on the recent developments released by A Current Affair.
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