Bulldogs star ‘continued drinking’ after alleged car crash as police set to press chargesApril 17, 2020 12:57pm
Ben Waterworth with Tom Morris
FOX SPORTSPolice were called to Middle Park just before 9pm on Thursday night where they found a Toyota SUV abandoned. It’s alleged the car smashed into four parked vehicles.
SEN Breakfast reported a training bag with the No. 7 — Hunter’s playing number — on it was found on the back seat, while AFL Media reported alcohol was found on the front seat — but the driver wasn’t at the scene.
SEN Breakfast reported Hunter spoke to two people after the crash and left his licence details, before allegedly going to a friend’s house where he “continued drinking”.
Police later confirmed they’d found a 25-year-old man at a property at South Yarra. They conducted a preliminary breath test before a subsequent evidentiary breath test, which showed Hunter had a blood-alcohol reading of 0.123 — more than twice the legal limit.
Witness Simon Dixon told the Herald Sun he heard “an enormous bang” before rushing outside to discover his Exopest van, as well as other cars, had suffered damage.
“I just saw the carnage of the five cars. They were all like dominoes,” Mr Dixon told the Herald Sun.
Damaged cars are seen on Wright St, Middle Park. It’s believed to have been hit by Bulldog Lachie Hunter. Picture: David CroslingFoxfooty.com.au understands second-year Bulldog Bailey Smith drove Hunter from Middle Park to the South Yarra house of teammate Billy Gowers. Smith then made his way back to his own home.
Multiple outlets reported Hunter had a disagreement with a loved one before leaving his home in the car and crashing into the stationary vehicles. 7 News reported that one of the parked cars belonged to the parents of Smith’s girlfriend — where Smith happened to be that night, hence he drove Hunter to Gowers’ residence.
Lachie Hunter accident.
3AW reporter Sam McClure said on Friday morning: “He was in Middle Park visiting someone, has been drinking, clearly doing the wrong thing, and I believe he’s admitted he did the wrong thing and knocked into a couple of parked cars.”
“He did knock on neighbours’ doors to tell multiple neighbours about the damage and since then has been driven by neighbours to a friend’s house.
“One of the other neighbours called the police as you can understand, but, the thing that will make this interesting from my understanding is that Lachie continued to have a couple of drinks at a friend’s house in South Yarra by the time police caught up with him at I think 11pm.”
Hunter was fined $1652 for breaking strict public health orders in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. But if it’s found Hunter left the scene of a crash, it could carry more serious charges.
Hunter’s club released a statement on Friday morning.
“The Western Bulldogs are aware of an incident involving Lachie Hunter on Thursday evening,” the statement read.
“The club is in the process of investigating the exact circumstances surrounding the incident, and will confirm details when possible.”
Bulldogs president Peter Gordon said it was “not the message that we want sent out there”.
“We will investigate the circumstances. When we know more, we will more to say about it,” Gordon told SEN Breakfast.
Damaged to a car on Wright St. Picture: David CroslingSource: News Corp Australia“Lachie is a good young man and sadly it’s a reflection of not dealing at all appropriately with the pressure a lot of us are under and the circumstances in which we live.
“But you can’t see that as an excuse. This is behaviour we don’t want to see and we’ll get an explanation for it, get the circumstances.
“But the message we want to send to people is during these difficult times you need to put extra effort into sticking to the community effort.”
In a statement, Victoria Police said: “The man’s licence was immediately suspended for 12 months and it is expected will be charged on summons with drink driving and other traffic matters.”
A 2016 premiership Bulldog and 2018 best and fairest, Hunter just over 12 months ago signed a five-year contract extension, tying him to the Bulldogs until at least the end of 2024.
Hunter, the son of 130-game Bulldog Mark Hunter, was taken as a father-son selection at Pick 49 in the 2012 national draft.
The classy left-footer has polled 31 Brownlow Medal votes and kicked 57 goals from 128 games. He’s ranked among the top three players for average uncontested possessions in three of the past four seasons.
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2020-lachie-hunter-car-crash-drink-driving-alcohol-western-bulldogs/news-story/4061b17d117790b89e637995d521270f
