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John De Jong is going to sue Victoria Police.
From The Age
From Herald Sun
Cleared drug-test driver sues state
By Selma Milovanovic
June 1, 2005
The Ballarat van driver wrongly identified as the world's first motorist to be positive for drugs in a roadside saliva test is suing the State Government for defamation.
Courier John de Jong, 40, is seeking unspecified exemplary and/or aggravated damages for harm to his reputation after he was identified in the media when the Victoria Police's world-first roadside drug-testing trial began on December 13.
Police originally said a positive reading had been recorded for methylamphetamine in a roadside test in Yarraville. Mr de Jong tested positive for cannabis in a later test in a police bus. But further police and independent lab tests returned negative results.
"I would just like the whole of Australia to see someone from the Police Department say: 'We got it wrong that day and we apologise,' " Mr de Jong said yesterday. "I didn't do anything wrong."
In a statement of claim filed in the Supreme Court, he says the police, through Assistant Commissioner (Traffic) Bob Hastings, had told journalists he tested positive in the first test and also in the more sophisticated test in the police bus.
He claims television broadcasts were understood to mean he was a "druggie" who should be off the road and a hypocrite who, after backing testing, returned a positive reading.
The writ says the Victoria Police was "recklessly indifferent" to damage caused to him.
The father of two said yesterday his life had been shattered by the incident. "It's always in my face, everywhere I go. I want to forget about it, but people bring it up all the time."
The Government and Victoria Police declined to comment as the case is before the courts. The Sunday Age said this week that Mr Hastings wrote to Mr de Jong's solicitors in December saying that at no stage did police "facilitate or promote the identification of any individual involved in the roadside drug testing and consistently stressed to the media the importance of privacy".
From The Age
Drug-test driver sues
Norrie Ross, law reporter
1 Jun 2005
A DRIVER who became a victim of Victoria's roadside drug test fiasco is suing the State Government.
John De Jong, 40, said being falsely named and shamed as a drug taker had had a devastating effect on him and his family.
The van driver, identified as the first in the world to return a positive result in a roadside drug test, said a Victoria Police refusal to apologise had forced his hand.
"I think I have to take legal action. I don't really see myself as having a choice," Mr De Jong said.
"I did ask for an apology and nothing came back."
The Herald Sun first raised questions on the accuracy of the testing regimen. The Government was forced to try to defend roadside drug testing.
Mr De Jong said that he could not forget being identified to the media as driving with amphetamines and cannabis in his system.
"It's something I think about every day. It's always in my head," he said.
"I meet people in the street and there's always a comment somewhere.
"It's not only affected me, but also my wife and daughters. It has been devastating."
Mr De Jong was just the fourth driver tested when police set up their new drug bus for roadside saliva testing in Whitehall St, Yarraville, on December 13 last year.
Police command had organised for a large media contingent to witness the first use of the drug bus.
The media was told Mr De Jong had tested positive to the presence of cannabis and amphetamines and the information was broadcast by four television stations that evening.
When he returned to his Ballarat home he found his wife Kay and daughters Danielle, 17, and Belinda, 13, in tears after seeing him on the evening news.
The Herald Sun then revealed an independent laboratory had cleared Mr De Jong and the result was later confirmed by the police lab.
Law firm Slater and Gordon yesterday lodged a defamation writ in the Supreme Court on behalf of Mr De Jong.
The statement of claim alleged Assistant Commissioner Bob Hastings identified Mr De Jong as testing positive to drugs.
It alleged this information was broadcast on channels 7, 9, 10 and the ABC. It was also claimed Mr De Jong was called a hypocrite for saying on camera, before being tested, the drug bus was a good thing.
He is claiming aggravated and or exemplary damages because the police refused to apologise and were recklessly indifferent to the potential damage to his reputation.
Mr De Jong said money wasn't the main motivation. "I'd like to have the police admit they messed up that day," he said.
Solicitor Katalin Blond, of Slater and Gordon, said police should have anticipated what happened.
"They should have foreseen the possibility of someone testing positive at the roadside and later being cleared," Ms Blond said.
A spokesman for Victoria Police said they would make no comment on the lawsuit.
From Herald Sun