A man who died after being hit by a car in Wyndham Vale on Friday morning was refused access to a sobering up facility despite a police request.
The man was believed to been lying on the road near the intersection of Black Forest Road and Brimpton Grove when he was struck by a Honda Accord about 5am on June 28.
The man, who is yet to be identified, died at the scene.
The driver of the vehicle stopped at the scene and assisted police with their inquiries.
It has since emerged that the man was intoxicated and that police had tried to have him transported to the state’s 24-hour sobering up centre operated by cohealth.
A cohealth spokesperson confirmed the organisation recieved a police request to accept the man – a cohealth client.
“Based on the client’s history, it was determined that a referral to the sobering centre was not appropriate, and Victoria Police was subsequently informed,” the spokesperson said.
“cohealth extends its deepest sympathies to the family and loved ones of the man who lost his life in Wyndham Vale in the early hours of this morning.
“Our thoughts extend to everyone affected during this difficult time.”
The Police Association blamed the state’s new public drunkenness laws for the fatality, stating the two police officers who tended to the man would previously have been able to take him into custody.
“Our full, unequivocal support is behind these two officers, who came to work to help and protect people and who were prevented from doing that because of the government’s recently reformed public intoxication laws,” Association Secretary Wayne Gatt said.
“A man is dead and the community should be asking the questions that we were asking three years ago and have been asking every day since.
“Our thoughts are with the man’s family and with our members who will all be traumatised by this preventable tragedy.”
Public drunkenness was decriminalised in Victoria in 2021 following the death in custody of Indigenous woman, Tanya Day.
Where police used to be able to arrest those found intoxicated in public, further
reforms introduced in November 2023 mean officers now contact cohealth to have them transported to the sobering up centre.
Speaking at a press conference in Kyneton on Friday afternoon, Premier Jacinta Allen expressed her condolences to the family of the deceased man and said a full investigation would be conducted.
Victoria Police was contacted for comment.
