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Lead-up to woman’s death included drug use, tense standoff with Victoria police

Massing of Victoria police followed descent into ‘drug psychosis’
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The couch from the apartment Lisa Rauch had barricaded herself into. A curling iron is shown sitting in the couch, possibly the cause of the fire that gave urgency to the police response, during which Rauch was killed. (Photo Courtesy of the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner)

Day two of the public hearing into a police officer’s use of force in the 2019 death of 43-year-old Lisa Rauch included witness testimony and surveillance footage that showed a situation ongoing from a drug-fuelled disruption to a chaotic, smoke-filled scene full of police and firefighters.

This evidence presented a portrait of a Christmas afternoon in which drug and alcohol use were spiralling in and out of a Pandora Avenue apartment, with those involved becoming more and more out of control as day progressed.

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About the Author: Mark Page

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