Car ‘not cause of death’

SAMUEL Brown’s injuries when he was found on the side of the Gold Coast Highway were “too neat” to have been from a car accident, a paramedic has told a coronial inquest.

The revelation came on the second day of the coronial inquest into the death of Mr Brown, who was found with severe head injuries about 2.30am on November 25, 2012, at Mermaid Beach.

Advanced care paramedic Jason Harris, who has been in the job 17 years, said previous experience led him to believe the injuries were not consistent with Mr Brown being struck by a car.

It was originally thought Mr Brown, a popular Burleigh Bombers Australian rules player, had been hit by a car.

A taxi driver was charged with failing to stop, but those charges have since been dropped.

“He was too neat for a car accident,” Mr Harris said.

“He had no lower leg injuries.”

Mr Harris said in his experience most pedestrians who had been struck by a car had lower leg injuries and fractures to other parts of the body, as well as bruises and abrasions.

He said the only injuries he saw were a cut to the chin and a swollen jaw.

Mr Harris said there was also a significant amount of blood.

“There was a trail of blood but it looked like just gravity flowing down the road,” he said.

Outside the courtroom, Mr Brown’s parents shook the hand of Mr Harris and thanked him for his efforts to save their son.

Another witness told the inquest she heard a strange sound while at her daughter’s apartment nearby.

“I heard this very odd thud noise,” Julie Hanson told the inquest.

“There was no screeching or screaming so I didn’t pay any more attention to it.”

It was only when Ms Hanson’s husband went outside and then told them police and ambulance officers were in the street that she went to look.

Ms Hanson said police asked her if she’d heard anything unusual and she told them about the odd noise.

“Thinking about it since, it sounded like an impact,” she told the inquest.

Members of Mr Brown’s family wept in the gallery as another woman, Donna Milkins, described her attempts to help him.

“I crouched down to see if he was OK.

“I spoke to him ... there was no response when we were talking,” Ms Milkins said.

The inquest continues today.