Court told car doused in petrol before hitting cop

POLICE believe the driver who allegedly ran down and injured a sergeant on the Surf Coast Highway last month had poured petrol throughout his vehicle as part of a death-wish mission.

Geelong Magistrates’ Court yesterday heard officers thought Sergeant Anthony French was dead after being hit in a crash at Mt Duneed on November 20, allegedly caused by Andrew Hutchison.

Sgt French was found lying motionless after the impact sent him flying 5m into a wire fence.

“It was only pure luck Sgt French did not receive lifethreatening injuries,” Detective Senior Constable Bianca Shirra told the court.

She said the policeman had parked his marked police vehicle on the Surf Coast Highway north of the Mt Duneed roundabout about 1pm that day in an effort to block Hutchison, who had been reportedly driving erratically for hours.

But the court heard the driver swerved his Holden Commodore at the police car and hit at speed, forcing the police vehicle to slide sideways into a tree.

Sgt French, standing nearby in the emergency lane, was hit by his own vehicle and catapulted into the fence, sustaining a broken ankle and finger, and cuts and bruises from head to toe.

Earlier in the day Hutchison reportedly told family members he was going to “kill himself by blowing up his vehicle”, the court heard.

Sen-Constable Shirra said