Hitting a cop leads to jail

Avoiding road spikes injures officer

CONSTABLE Mehdi Mohammadi was simply doing his job the day a motorist in a stolen car drove into him, forcing him over the bonnet and roof of the car before his head struck the ground.

His horror morning unfolded on November 8 last year near Glenorchy when he was on the job at the corner of East Derwent Highway and the Bowen Bridge, waiting to deploy road spikes.

Constable Mohammadi – dressed in his police uniform and a high-visibility vest – laid the spikes and retreated near a bicycle lane, the Supreme Court of Tasmania heard.

But the approaching criminal, Christopher John Brown, 28, swerved in an apparent effort to avoid the spikes, driving straight at the constable instead.

“The tyres were spiked but the vehicle did not slow appreciably, and continued towards the officer who tried to run away,” Acting Justice David Porter said.

“The vehicle struck the officer to the left side of his lower body. He collided heavily with the bonnet, and went over the roof of the car before he fell to the ground, striking both his head and body.

“He was hospitalised and treated for concussion due to his head injuries.”

The judge said Constable Mohammadi was cut and bruised across his body, while Brown sped towards Risdon Vale with other officers in pursuit. Prosecutors later accepted that Brown hadn’t intended to mow the policeman down, but had been reckless as to that possibility.

Constable Mohammadi, who eventually returned to work after months of treatment and pain, said he had been “shocked and shaken” after being run down.

“His partner was seven months pregnant at the time, and he was worried about the effect on her, on his wider family and on work,” Associate Justice Porter said.

“He was not able to walk without assistance for almost two weeks and was in constant pain, mostly in his leg.”

The judge said Brown had an “appalling record” for driving offences and had driven towards another police officer in the past who was laying road spikes in “precisely the same scenario”.

Associate Justice Porter said assaults on police officers while in the execution of their duty needed to be condemned.

Brown, who pleaded guilty to one count of assaulting a police officer, was jailed for 20 months, with a non-parole period of one year.