The tattooed hand of a driver alleged to be behind Monday’s fiery crash on the Harbour Bridge has been released by police in the hopes of identifying him.
So far efforts to identify the man, who was driving the black Toyota Kluger, have been unsuccessful due to the severity of his condition.
“Despite their attempts, officers from Sydney City Police Area Command investigating the incident have been unable to identify him and therefore have been unable to notify his family,” a police statement said.
The man is described as being of Caucasian appearance, believed to be in his 20s or 30s, around 175cm tall and was wearing a black hooded jacket and red shorts at the time of the incident.
The darkly coloured tattoo appears roughly done and features a large eyeball on the back of the hand, surrounded by other dark swirls.
It is alleged the man stole the Toyota Kluger as its owner changed a tyre, moments before crashing it at high speed into oncoming traffic.
Bystanders have described their heroic efforts to rescue trapped motorists in the wake of the accident.
Keni Vukici was driving northbound along the bridge when the Toyota Kluger flew past at high speed towards oncoming traffic.
“He cut me off doing about 110 km/h,” Mr Vukici told the Sydney Morning Herald. “After the impact it was just mayhem”.
Dashcam footage shows nearby drivers jumping into action and moving quickly to assess the situation of three impacted vehicles – and the driver trapped inside the flipped SUV with a smoking engine.
“It didn’t occur to me that the guy who cut me off was the one upside down,” Mr Vukici said.
He recalls two men trying to pull the 30-year-old out of the driver‘s side window while he ran around to the passenger’s side to check that no one else was there.
The bystanders then worked to remove a 53-year old woman unable to get out of the third car.
When the black SUV exploded into flames minutes later, bystanders quickly moved to carry the driver away from danger.
“We actually had to hold him down at one point,” he said. “He was yelling out ‘Get off me!’ then passing out again … It was insane.”
“I’m kind of used to panic situations like that,” Mr Vukici, a former bodyguard, told SMH.
Mr Vukici confirms early reports that an officer from the Transport Management Centre single-handedlxjmtzywy pushed the Hiace van out of the way of the flames.
Police rescue later cut the door off the van and extracted that gentleman.
NSW Police are waiting for the man to finish treatment before commencing formal interviews and no charges have been laid.
“Those people that stopped their cars and got out and helped, they’ve been extremely brave and that’s not the type of thing that just anybody does,” said Sydney City Police Area commander, Detective Superintendent Rohan Cramsie.
“A lot of people would have kept driving, or stopped in their cars and watched but those people have shown tremendous courage and we applaud them for that”.
Mr Vukici told reporters that his actions were “nothing special”, and said the driver deserved saving despite the allegations related to the crash.
