VICTORIA'S Chief Commissioner of Police has been ordered to pay the legal costs of a Benalla police officer, who was this week acquitted of dangerous driving allegations while attending a crash near Euroa.

Appearing before Shepparton Magistrates Court on Thursday, Leading Senior Constable Bradley Beecroft was found not guilty of driving in a manner dangerous, after he reached an alleged speed of more than 200kph while responding to a Hume Freeway crash involving a police officer in early-2021.

Some eight prosecution witnesses had fronted Wangaratta Magistrates Court during a four-day hearing last week, when dashcam footage of LSC Beecroft’s urgent duties response, as well as his record of interview, were tendered to the court.

The court heard LSC Beecroft, a gold-licenced Highway Patrol officer with an exemption to travel at unlimited speeds, had been concerned he may have been responding to a “catastrophic” collision, after radio contact was lost with a police officer whose vehicle had been rear-ended south of Euroa.

The first on-scene at the crash site, the defendant was said to have driven at high speeds while under lights and sirens between Violet Town and Euroa, regularly overtaking vehicles while driving in the right hand lane of the Hume Freeway.

The incident had initially been designated as a priority one incident by a Euroa Sergeant, with vehicles from across the North East, including from Wangaratta, Seymour and Wallan directed to attend the site.

Speaking on Thursday, Magistrate Victoria Campbell acknowledged LSC Beecroft and his passenger Leading Senior Constable Robert Kucia, himself a 35-year Highway Patrol veteran, had reason to believe they would be arriving at a fatal or serious injury collision on the March 21 incident.

Ms Campbell noted neither officer had expressed any concern the driving behaviour had been dangerous.

Prosecutors argued LSC Beecroft had shown a “conscious lack of intellectual curiosity towards his own speed”, citing in-car footage which depicted the officer pointing to a speed camera and stating “I don’t care about the speed”.

LSC Beecroft had defended the statement, noting he was constantly assessing risks and adjusting his speed to ensure he was overtaking vehicles safely.

Ms Campbell accepted LSC Beecroft’s decision to overtake 77 vehicles while urgent duty driving had prevented at least 77 people from being exposed to the crash scene.

She noted the authority provided by LSC Beecroft’s gold licence, in her opinion, had not been exceeded at any point.

The Chief Commissioner of Police was ordered to pay the reasonable costs of the accused.