Footage shows teens hanging from stolen ute moments before horror crash killed notorious 14-year-old offender

Shocking footage has emerged of a group of teenagers hanging outside a swerving stolen ute moments before it hit a tree, killing one passenger.

A teen named Conroy, 14, from Mildura, died after the allegedly stolen vehicle he was travelling in smashed into a tree on the Calder Highway at Woosang, 240km north-west of Melbourne, on Saturday.

The driver, 18, and another passenger, 14, are both fighting for life after they were cut from the ute and airlifted to hospital.

The killed teen was well known to police and had previously been granted bail for multiple offences.

Police said the vehicle was travelling along the Calder Highway when it left the road just before 10am.

Detective Sergeant Ashley Pendrick said: ‘It took rescue workers some time to get them out of the vehicle, and it would have been really confronting for them to come across it’

Police allege the ute was stolen from Mildura, and footage showed the vehicle swerving across two lanes while two passengers hung out of the windows.

Their bodies were almost entirely outside the ute as friends filmed the stunt.

Conroy’s family said he was a ‘beautiful young soul’ who was ‘taken from us far too soon’.

One of the boys in the vehicle is in a coma with a brain bleed and broken bones and is on a breathing tube.

‘At this stage, it is still too early to know what the coming days will bring, and our family is holding onto hope with everything we have,’ a family member wrote in an online fundraiser.

‘These boys are deeply loved. They are kind, full of life, and have their whole futures ahead of them.

‘Our family is devastated, frightened, and praying every moment for strength and healing.’

Friends paid tribute to Conroy on social media, with one saying he was grieving the death of his ‘big cousin’.

‘Fly in heaven … just sad I seen it all last night,’ he wrote.

Another said: ‘Forever gonna miss u mah bruva, can’t believe ya gone, only 14.’

Detective Sergeant Pendrick said detectives were trying to determine how fast the allegedly stolen car had been travelling.

‘There was certainly a high impact with the tree, there’s no doubt about that,’ he said.

‘We look at everything. We’ll look at speed, we’ll look at the road condition, we will look at the manner of driving.’

Reflecting on the tragedy, the detective said crashes like this were a reminder for young people to ‘know there’s consequences for their actions’.

‘When you look at incidents like this that are totally devastating, you just plead to those kids that they’re not playing games, there’s real consequences,’ he said.

Shadow police minister Brad Battin criticised Jacinta Allan’s Labor government hours after the crash, saying similar incidents were preventable if it took a tougher approach to youth crime.

‘We need to fix the justice system,’ he told the Herald Sun.

‘Releasing young offenders for stealing cars and having unlimited bail not only leaves the community less safe, but we will see more young people die.

‘What will it take for the premier to stand up and say enough is enough? Break bail, face jail. I am sick of a government who simply doesn’t care.’

An Allan government spokesperson hit back, accusing the opposition of using the tragedy to score political points. 

‘Our thoughts are with the young people’s loved ones as they deal with the loss and injury caused by this senseless act,’ he said.

‘Politicising a teenager’s death says everything you need to know about (Victorian Opposition Leader) Jess Wilson, whose first instinct is to send out her conspiracy theory-peddling shadow.

‘There are no easy solutions to youth crime, but community safety comes first, which is why we’ve introduced Adult Time for Violent Crime to deliver serious consequences for repeat offenders.’

The new reforms mean children aged 14 and over now face the adult court system and can receive the same sentences as adults, including life imprisonment in certain cases.