‘He Was My Soul Partner’, Todd Robinson Remembers His Partner Constable Glen Humphris
On Wednesday morning when Todd Robinson left for work bidding goodbye to his partner in life and adventure of four years Constable Glen Humphris, he did not imagine a knock on the door in the evening would bring tragic news.
“I said goodbye to him, as we always do. Always ‘take care, let’s work, come home’. He wasn’t due to finish until 1900 hours,” said Todd, who spoke to reporters in Melbourne on Friday afternoon.
Todd said he had come home and started preparing dinner. When he heard on TV that there had been a crash on the Eastern Freeway, he assumed Glen was not returning his text messages as he was helping control the scene of the accident. He heard nothing for two hours and then there was a knock and with five senior Victoria police at the door “I was shocked, I wasn’t expecting it but I knew something wasn’t right. From living with him and knowing the communication that we would have on a daily basis, this night something was wrong… My soulmate has gone,” said Robinson.
Glen had died with his fellow officers leading senior constable Lynette Taylor, senior constable Kevin King and constable Josh Prestney on April 22, 2020, at the Eastern Freeway. The officers were impounding a speeding Porsche when a truck swerved into the emergency lane crashing into them
At times holding back tears, voice dropping at some points, Todd stood bravely answering questions about Glen and their life of “adventures”, his ïnfectious smile” and being there for anyone who needed help.
“I wanted to speak about Glen. The only way we are going to remember Glen, and the three others is to talk about them… all the good times. He wore a uniform. But he was a person under that uniform. He came home to someone and that day he didn’t. He is gone. And I’m still coming to terms that that door is not going to open and he’s not going to come bumbling, say ‘Hello!’ to me, grab the dog and me and him go for a walk and a run and wake up in the morning, go for a run together. And so, on. I need to speak about him to make him live on.”
Adventures and outdoor life brought them together.
Todd met Glen when he was working for Return to Work in Newcastle in 2016. “We met as an adventurous couple. We enjoyed everything outdoors. Our first date was a 30k bike ride on a well-known track up in Newcastle. We had lunch and then off we went,” recollected Todd. “We just bonded as outdoor people, we got into triathlons. We loved running, running on the beaches up around Newcastle. He grew up on the Central Coast so he was very much an outdoors person…(like) myself enjoying the outdoors camping and so forth.” Their families connected and accepted them.
Last year the couple decided to move to Melbourne and Glen went on to join the Victorian Police. Their adventures continued, meeting new friends, going on camping trips, hitting the dance floor, and planning holidays.
“We had a lot of adventures. If you look at our photos… if you speak to our families and friends they’d be like what are these two up to this weekend. And we’d be out camping or we’d be out hiking. His type of adventure and fun was my birthday in January when he threw me out of a plane skydiving. We had holidays in Cambodia, had a cruise. We were planning an American trip next year. In all those things he was my soul partner, we planned, we went on holiday. And after all this. Yeah, I’m going to come back and manage on my own. That’s when I think reality will hit me,” Todd said.
‘He lit up the room with his smile’
“I want people to remember him as the bubbly outgoing, loving personality and nature that he had. He lit up the room when he walked into it. He respected everybody’s opinions, and he was so proud to be a Victorian policeman. So, I would like him very much to be remembered that way,” Todd said.
“I was expecting him to come home,” trails off Todd, as he prepares to say his final farewell to the love of his life.
Watch Todd speak about Glen and if you want to support the families of the officers, do consider donations to the Victoria Police Legacy. The organisation supports families who have lost loved ones in the Victoria Police force.
