Man bites cop after being pulled from fiery car crash, police allege

A man accused of biting a police officer after a series of crashes in Sydney’s west, in which he had to be dragged from a burning car, has been banned from driving after being granted bail.

The trail of destruction, which ended with the Toyota SUV driven by Siosifa Tupou, 35, engulfed in flames, began with a crash into a Mercedes coupe on Hassall Street, Wetherill Park.

Tupou allegedly drove on, crashing into a second vehicle on The Horsley Drive, before hitting a parked car around the corner on Maugham Crescent about 11.20pm on Sunday.

Bystanders pulled Tupou from the burning vehicle. Police attending the scene were told of the previous crashes, while Fire and Rescue NSW extinguished the blaze. Both the other drivers were uninjured.

Tupou allegedly bit a police officer while he was being arrested at the scene of the final crash, and refused to submit to a roadside breath test, NSW Police said in a statement.

He faced Fairfield Local Court on Monday charged with assaulting police, hindering police, not keep left of an oncoming vehicle, refusing a breath test and refusing a breath analysis after arrest.

Judge Michael Ong granted Tupou bail, with conditions including a curfew of 8pm.

He is not to occupy the driver’s seat of any vehicle, and will be required to undergo drug and alcohol testing on request.

Tupou is due to face court again on June 3.

Onlookers took footage of the burning vehicle.

Jessica Altos, who captured vision of the car in flames, told the Herald that one of the other drivers was out picking up Mother’s Day gifts.

“He said luckily he didn’t have his kids in the car,” Altos said.

The alleged incident occurred hours after police concluded a statewide operation targeting drivers affected by alcohol and drugs, in which 708 drivers were detected allegedly driving with drugs in their system, out of more than 8000 tests.

Police Minister Yasmin Catley said “so much bad driver behaviour” was detected during the operation.

“We need people to take responsibility, respect people on the road, respect your passengers, respect pedestrians,” Catley said.

NSW Police Assistant Commissioner David Driver said “some people disregard our warnings and make a decision that the law doesn’t apply to them”.

“Clearly, it does,” he said.

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