US cops walk back Aussie businessman claim
Written by admin on July 12, 2024
An Australian businessman found partially conscious and injured on a San Francisco street was likely not assaulted or the victim of any crime, US police say.
Information coming from the Californian police has been complicated by the injuries and an induced coma Colin Bettles had been subject to since he was found on July 4.
Police found the 54-year-old, Grain Producers Australia chief executive about 11pm on Market St, a major thoroughfare that slices through suburbs of the Bay Area city.
The West Australia-based businessman had injuries to his head and a fractured eye socket.
Initially, police said he had likely been assaulted because of the head injuries, and his family back in Australia did not know what had happened for days because it was initially reported Mr Bettles did not have any identification with him.
However, on Friday Australian time, new information from the San Francisco Police Department concluded that Mr Bettles had not been assaulted.
“There has been widespread media coverage about Bettles with claims that he was the victim of an assault or robbery,” a department spokesperson said.
“SFPD reviewed surveillance video from the scene and found no indication that Bettles was assaulted or the victim of a crime. He was in possession of his property at the hospital.”
Mr Bettles is a former Canberra journalist and close friends with former deputy prime minister Malcolm McCormack.
Mr Bettles had been in the US for work. When he did not get on the flight back to Australia, his family contacted Mr McCormack. The US police were looped in, and Mr Bettles was tracked to the hospital where he lay in a coma.
Mr McCormack, deputy prime ministers under prime ministers Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison, contacted the Australian government’s foreign affairs personnel.
“We found him thanks to consular officials going hospital to hospital, ward to ward,” Mr McCormack told NewsWire earlier this week.
On Thursday, a Grain Producers Australia board member confirmed Mr Bettles had come out of the coma.
“He’s out of a coma but he is still in hospital and we’re waiting on a neurologist report to see how his recovery is going to be,” Andrew Weidemann told The West Australian this week.
“Once we get the neurologist report, we will know when he can come back. With this head trauma, he’s still in a potentially dangerous spot.”
