- Sam Landsberger was talking to his mother when she died
- The AFL reporter was hit and killed by a truck while on his way to work.
- His father says he was talking on the phone with his mother Anne when he was hit.
Sam Landsberger was talking on the phone with his mother Anne when he was hit by a truck and killed.
The football world is in mourning after Herald Sun reporter Landsberger died on his way to work on Tuesday morning following a road accident in Richmond, Melbourne.
Landsberger was only 35 years old.
The driver of the truck that fatally ran over the journalist has since been charged after allegedly refusing to provide a blood sample to police.
The Landsberger family have been inundated with touching tributes from Sam’s colleagues and the wider football community, and he was held in high regard by all who knew the football and cricket journalist.
And his father, Jake, said the family took comfort in the fact that his son’s final moments were spent on the phone with his mother.
“Anne was on the phone to Sam when it happened, she heard the bang, she heard the commotion and we were really worried that she had actually distracted him,” Jake told the Herald Sun.
‘Anne was talking to him as she crossed the road to meet (her friend and former Herald Sun colleague) Nick Smart.
‘The next thing I knew there was a commotion, a stranger picked up the phone and said, ‘Who am I speaking to?’. Anne said, ‘I’m Sam’s mother, who are you?’.
“And he said, ‘I’m sorry to say, but your son was just hit by a vehicle… he’s lying on the ground.’ The man initially engaged Sam in conversation until he lost consciousness.”
The 35-year-old was later taken to the Alfred Hospital where he died. Jake revealed that the unknown man sent a message to the family on WhatsApp on Wednesday.
‘He texted us and said, ‘I told Sam I was on the phone with his mom and that he could rest easy knowing he was communicating with you through me.’
Reflecting on the outpouring of love for his son, Jake said: “I can’t put into words the comfort, joy and pride we feel about this.
‘By the time we both took two sleeping pills to go to bed at around 9pm on Tuesday, I had personally received over 250 messages and Anne probably the same.
‘The tributes, watching AFL360, seeing that The Tackle had been postponed, the stories all over the media… I said to Anne as we sat at our table crying our eyes out, I wish I could go back to the morgue at the coroner’s court, just wake Sam up briefly and say, ‘Sam, look how much they loved you, look how much they admired you. ‘
‘Because he had no idea. He didn’t realize it. I told him many times that this was his dream job. I would tell him that he had achieved his dream and he would look at me and say, ‘Yeah, thanks, Dad.’ He was very self-critical.
“The extent of what we saw left us speechless.”
We will continue to report more.