Daniel Andrews ordered by court to hand over personal phone and credit card records relating to controversial 2013 crash that seriously injured teen cyclist Ryan Meuleman
Daniel Andrews has been ordered by a court to hand over his personal phone and credit card details in relation to a road accident involving a teenage cyclist.
The former Victorian premier, who resigned last year, was served a Supreme Court summons outside his home last week asking him to produce the documents.
They are needed as part of a civil action brought by lawyers against Ryan Meuleman, who was 15 years old and riding his bicycle in Blairgowrie on the Mornington Peninsula when he was hit by the Andrews family’s SUV in 2013.
Of particular interest is who called Mr Andrews in the aftermath of the crash and whether that included his then chief of staff, Brett Curran, the current assistant commissioner of Victoria Police.
Lawyers Arnold Bloch Leibler will represent Mr Andrews in the case – the same firm his government hired at taxpayer expense to negotiate a huge compensation deal in the wake of the cancellation of the Commonwealth Games, reports The Herald Sun.
Former Victorian Premier Dan Andrews has been ordered to hand over his phone and credit card details in relation to a 2013 accident involving a cyclist while he was in the passenger seat and his wife Catherine was driving (pictured together)
The then 15-year-old cyclist Ryan Meuleman suffered a punctured lung, broken ribs and lost 90 percent of his spleen (photo in the hospital after the crash)
The Andrews drove their Ford Territory SUV to their Mornington Peninsula holiday home (pictured, showing damage to the windscreen)
Mr Andrew’s wife, Catherine, who was driving through the Ford Territory when the accident occurred while on their way to the family holiday home in Sorrento, is also represented by Arnold Bloch Leibler.
Mr Meuleman is seeking damages from law firm Slater & Gordon, which he hired in the aftermath of the crash, for allegedly failing to conduct a “full and proper investigation into the circumstances” of the incident.
The then-teenager suffered a punctured lung, broken ribs, internal bleeding and lost 90 percent of his spleen, requiring him to be hospitalized for 11 days.
He claims he was banned from talking about the crash when he accepted $80,000 in compensation for his injuries from the Traffic Accident Commission in 2016, negotiated by Slater & Gordon, which he claims did not act in his best interests .
Mr and Mrs Andrews have said Mr Meulman ‘T-boned’ their car, but he claims he was riding his sister’s bicycle slowly down a dirt road when he crossed the road and the SUV, who was driving at high speed, ‘came out’. out of nowhere’ and hit him.
Mr Andrews told police, according to the report: ‘The cyclist was traveling at high speed and hit our car very heavily at a perfect right angle. I want to make it clear: the cyclist hit our vehicle.”
Ms Andrews said: ‘My memory of the incident is that the cyclist completely shattered and crushed the windscreen in front of me on the driver’s side.
“It was almost as if the cyclist had fallen on our car from above.”
Photos released in 2022 – grainy photocopies of police originals – show the SUV’s windshield shattered by a heavy impact to the driver’s side.
Police photocopied originals show the SUV’s windshield shattered by a heavy impact to the driver’s side
But they also show damage to the front corner body in front of the front tire, which the Meulemans say supports their claim that the Andrews crashed into Ryan.
But they also show damage to the body of the front corner in front of the front tire. Mr Meuleman, now in his mid-20s, claims he supports the claim that the Andrews hit him.
Last year a patient care report, prepared by Ambulance Victoria paramedics at the scene, said the car ‘struck’ Mr Meuleman at a speed of ’40 to 60 km/h’.
However, the Andrews said they had come to a complete stop and had only just accelerated and turned right when the incident occurred.
Police failed to find anyone at the scene breathing and never interviewed Ryan about the crash after initially being too ill to talk and then never contacting him again.
Ms Andrews said she was driving the SUV at the time of the accident, but the Prime Minister then drove off in it to take their distraught children to the family’s nearby rental home.
The summary of the police investigation, which has also just been released, shows that they concluded that the damage in the accident matched the Andrews’ account and that they would take no further action.
Daily Mail Australia suggests no wrongdoing on the part of Mr Andrews or his wife.