Truck company manager charged with manslaughter over fatal cop crash
A man has been charged with four counts of manslaughter and granted bail over a truck freeway crash in Melbourne that killed four Victorian police officers.
Simon Tuteru, a 49-year-old from Frankston, was arrested in Lyndhurst in Melbourne's southeast on Saturday morning and later charged.
He appeared before an out-of-session hearing in Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Saturday evening and was granted bail to return to court for a committal mention hearing on October 26.
Tuteru is understood to be a manager at the trucking company - which has been penalised for safety breaches including truck defects and using fatigued drivers - whose vehicle was involved in the tragedy.
The four officers - Lynette Taylor, Kevin King, Glen Humphris and Joshua Prestney - were killed on duty while impounding a Porsche on the Eastern Freeway at Kew on April 22.
Police allege Porsche driver Richard Pusey, 41, was clocked doing 149km/h while under the influence of methamphetamine and cannabis, prompting police to attempt to impound his car.
The officers were hit by a semi-trailer while they were dealing with Pusey, who then allegedly filmed the crash site and verbally abused Senior Constable Taylor, who was dying, before fleeing.
Pusey, of Fitzroy, was charged with nine offences including driving at a dangerous speed, reckless conduct endangering life, failing to render assistance and drug possession.
Earlier this year, the 47-year-old truck driver, Mohinder Singh, was charged with culpable driving causing the deaths of the four officers and remanded in custody to return to court in October.
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