By CASEY NEILL
AN IRAQ War veteran with a twitch led Ian Jones to a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder.
The retired leading senior constable watched a video of a professor interviewing the soldier.
“It was like looking at myself,” he said.
“I ended up having these episodes of uncontrollable twitching.
“Apparently it’s the body reacting to the collision through your subconscious.”
The soldier had been exposed to an explosion. Mr Jones was injured in an horrific car crash in Dandenong North in 2012.
On Friday 18 March he received the Victoria Police Star which is awarded to employees who are killed or seriously injured.
“It was good to be recognised for the trauma and ending my career prematurely,” he said.
The award prompted him to speak out about PTSD within the force.
“People should not be too proud or afraid that Victoria Police will see them as being weak,” he said.
“They must seek help from a professional because a critical incident will eventually have an impact on them, no matter how strong you are.”
Mr Jones said the Victoria Police Academy taught officers in training to imagine what they would do in various situations.
“They told us we’d act automatically – something to do with muscle memory,” he said.
He said it was instances that officers didn’t predict which caused problems.
“Something that happens without warning,” he said.
“I never anticipated a car coming around the corner on the wrong side of the road.
“That was my unrehearsed incident in my repertoire of things that may happen.
“I’ve had multiple nightmares.
“If I’m driving, because of this I now rehearse all the time that a car coming towards me might hit me.
“I’ve broken teeth because of it, because I grind my teeth.”
Earlier this year he spent five weeks in the Austin Hospital being treated for PTSD.
“I’m on the highest allowable dose of anti-depressants and mood stabilisers,” he said.
Mr Jones retired in 2013 after 33 years as a police officer, including six years in New Zealand.
“It’d always been a childhood dream to be a police officer,” he said.
“It was challenging. Rewarding.”
Mr Jones was on the morning shift the day of the car crash that ended his career, Thursday 8 November 2012.
He was called to reports of a man threatening people in the street.
“I knew it was an unusual job,” he said.
“It was upgraded to a male threatening a person in a car with an iron bar.
“An iron bar turned out to be a .22 rifle.”
A Holden Statesman drove over the crest towards him as he pulled into the court.
“So I blocked the path of that vehicle,” he said.
“My partner tries to jump out and it goes around us and over the nature strip.
“As he shuts the door we see the Springvale van coming into the court.
“I said on the radio ‘get that car’.
“They get into a pursuit with the vehicle.
“I don’t remember what happened after that.
“Apparently he’s done a U-turn.
“For some reason there was no radio communications about the U-turn or that he was coming back to us.
“I was trying to catch up to the Springvale van. I was accelerating fairly quickly.”
Victoria Police pursuit laws at the time mandated that officers terminate a chase if the suspect crossed to the wrong side of the road or exceeded 120 kilometres an hour.
He believes the offender was familiar with the rules and deliberately crossed to the wrong side of the road.
“The combined impact speed was 130 kilometres,” he said.
“I know it was a huge impact because I was knocked unconscious.
“I remember hearing some blood-curdling screams. That was coming from the other car.
“Apparently the driver had a broken pelvis and ankles.
“The Statesman was bent in half.
“Our engine was up against the windscreen.”
Ian suffered a concussion and a back fracture that still requires epidural injections.
“I can’t run. I can’t kick a football with my grandkids,” he said.
“I don’t walk more than 200 metres.”
He’s also battled financially, awaiting compensation.
“The criminal only got 62 days imprisonment for it,” he said.
“That was for possession of a firearm, drug trafficking because he had drugs on him as well, unlicensed driving, driving under the influence of drugs, plus driving manner dangerous causing serious injury.”
