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ABC News

Hot pursuit

And now, from fast missiles, to a fast car on the backstreets of Melbourne: BLAKE JOHNSON: It was pinched from a hospital car park … … triggering a wild pursuit across the northern suburbs 'Emergency services; what address do you need the police?' MALE PASSENGER: 'Hey mate, I'm on a pursuit of a stolen car. - Seven News (Melbourne), 7 June 2025 A fed-up driver taking the law into his own hands was the lead item on Seven's Melbourne bulletin earlier this month and was also given a spot in Seven's evening bulletins in Sydney, Brisbane, Hobart, Adelaide and even Perth. This foot-to-the-floor performance by the car thief was also given a splash on Seven's website: FAST AND FURIOUS - Seven News Online, 8 June 2025 The victims of this theft had been visiting an elderly relative on her deathbed when they returned to the car park to discover their prized Holden Commodore missing. But! More drama ahead. A set of airpods left in the centre console turned into a tracking beacon. The chase took a dramatic turn when an accomplice driving a Subaru performed blocking manoeuvres, as if at Albert Park: PAUL DOWSLEY: They kept losing sight of their Commodore but finally found it empty, dumped in a court. They retrieved it, fearing the thief might still be nearby. - Seven News (Melbourne), 7 June 2025 Victims of crime forced to play cops and robbers? What a yarn. With John Theos delivering for Channel Seven the killer grab: JOHN THEOS: We had no support from the police so we had to get our car back. - Seven News (Melbourne), 7 June 2025 No support from the police? Hmmm, we wondered whether it might just be worth checking that one. A Victoria Police spokesperson told us the owner of the car was warned: … to go back to their house and not to follow the vehicle … - Email, Victoria Police Spokesperson, 13 June 2025 Victoria Police … made four attempts to contact the family to cease pursuing the vehicle. On each of those occasions the call was unanswered. - Email, Victoria Police Spokesperson, 12 June 2025 Uhuh. In addition the police claimed they located the car and in all, made seven calls to the car theft victims. We've also been told that Triple Zero operators issued their usual advice to the driver to not put himself at risk. Seven did ask questions of the police. But when the cops failed to meet its deadline the network pushed ahead anyway, deciding its car pursuit story was too hot to hold. So, what did Victoria Police's statement say when it finally arrived the following day? The victims were told to cease pursuing the vehicle for their own safety and that of other motorists in the vicinity. - Email, Victoria Police Spokesperson to 7NEWS, 8 June 2025 It also explained that after a risk assessment the police had decided: … not to pursue the vehicle due to safety concerns for other road users and there was the capability to track the vehicle. - Email, Victoria Police Spokesperson to 7NEWS, 8 June 2025 And what about the rather enthusiastic driving in pursuit of the stolen car? John and Kosta Theos would not say who was driving the car. And we don't know either. They also declined to give us the raw footage. But, whoever was driving, Channel Seven's snippets appear to show the car accelerating through a tight gap, overtaking up the inside of the left lane and driving across the wrong side of a roundabout. And what about these colourful descriptions of the escapade given to Seven by John Theos? JOHN THEOS: I'm thinking it's going to clip a tree or clip a car and then it would have been mayhem. KOSTA THEOS: He just drove like a maniac and put everyone at risk. JOHN THEOS: … we risked our lives, we had the chase … - Seven News (Melbourne), 7 June 2025 So, what hard questions did Seven's Paul Dowsley put to John and Kosta Theos about their part in the affair? Apparently, not a one. And how do we know? Because we asked John and Kosta Theos ourselves. He was a true gentleman. Nothing hard, no. They wanted the story and didn't go any further than that and I'm happy with that. - Phone, John Theos, 12 June 2025 I'm sure you are, John. John Theos and his son said Seven paid no money for the footage, denied the police had told them to stop the pursuit and said their car had not gone over the speed limit. Kosta Theos said the pursuit only occurred because the police had told them: '… we don't have the resources, you guys have to go and get it.' They had more important cases. Once we found the car, they said, 'we can't help you, if you guys want to go and get it, it's up to you.' - Phone, Kosta Theos, 12 June 2025 Funnily enough there's now a touch of remorse creeping in about contacting a TV station in the first place: My son should not have called Channel 7 because all of a sudden it's about us and not the morons out there committing crimes. - Phone, John Theos, 12 June 2025 Indeed. We sent the Seven story to the founder of the Australian Road Safety Foundation who told us: … there could have been multiple people killed that day. … Do we need to give this sort of thing air time? - Phone, Russell White, Chair, Australian Road Safety Foundation, 19 June 2025 We asked Seven News to defend the tone of its Fast and Furious news story, why it failed to ask tough questions of the father and son from whom it had secured the dashcam footage and why it failed to update its online version of the story with the Victoria Police statement. A spokesperson told us we had missed the point entirely: Our reporter conducted a respectful interview with a grieving father and son the day after their car was stolen from Sunshine Hospital, where they had just said their final goodbyes to their much-loved mother and grandmother, who had passed away. - Email, Seven Spokesperson, 20 June 2025 I'm not so removed from the thrill of the hunt to suggest Seven should not have run that dashcam footage or publish a story. But to have done so without any tough questions of those who took the law into their own hands and without a single word from the cops, was to glorify street justice in its thirst for ratings, and it was an abrogation of Seven's responsibilities to the community it serves.