Video taking off 23x its usual first day

Witness Cody Lepoidevin recounts freeing Helen Haines from a car boot

In a short TODAY interview from Wangaratta, he describes bystanders restraining the driver while others tended to the federal MP's injuries.

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TODAY Story of October 21, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 89,517 views a day, 24 times a normal first day on this channel (3,811).

'Help Helen': How bystanders responded to Haines attack

Posted the day after the attack on federal independent MP Helen Haines, TODAY's Short gives under a minute to one man, captioned on screen simply as "Local Hero": Cody Lepoidevin of Wangaratta, Victoria.

He says the first sound was a crash between a Land Cruiser and a RAV4, and nobody nearby thought much of it. "We thought it was just a normal crash until we heard Helen," he says. Then came the screams, and the group ran toward the road. Asked about them, he answers briefly: "Can't unhear them, but yeah."

Lepoidevin says the car hit her and then reversed and drove forward three times. He describes what followed as "a team effort": bystanders pulled the driver out of the vehicle, a knife he was carrying was thrown away, and the man was held against a wall while others turned to Haines. Lepoidevin says he helped free her from the car boot and applied a tourniquet to her injuries.

As we reported here, Haines remained in critical condition, and the motive was not known. TODAY's other uploads follow the case beyond the roadside: a bulletin headlined with a man being charged, and a report that federal MPs are to receive security briefings.

It is Lepoidevin's account, though, that has drawn the audience. The Short reached about 90,000 views in its first day, more than twenty times what the channel's Shorts usually draw.

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