Drug driver who mowed down cyclist is jailed
AMUM who mowed down a cyclist with her car as she drove her two children home whilst more than six times the drug drive limit was behind bars on Monday.
Lettings agency worker Emily Brown, 32, had taken cocaine and was not wearing her glasses – as required on her driving licence – when her VW Golf hit Stuart Crowther from behind during the evening rush hour.
Mr Crowther, 58, who was wearing reflective clothing but no safety helmet, was thrown over the windscreen and roof of the car and was left with serious injuries, including a fractured skull, after the accident last October.
Brown, from Royton, failed a roadside drug test for cocaine and later failed a standard eye test of reading a registration plate from 20 metres away.
Brown said she had been taking cocaine 48 hours before the incident as it was the sixth anniversary of the deaths of her premature born twins and claimed she did not believe it would still be in her system.
But tests suggested she had taken the drug as little as 12 hours before the crash due to the cocaine metabolite in her system.
She claimed the accident occurred when she became distracted by her daughter attempting to turn on the car radio.
Brown, whose daughters are aged five and 13, wept as she was jailed for 12 months after she admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving and drug driving. She was also banned from driving for four and a half years.
Sentencing, Judge Bernadette Baxter told Brown: “I accept you did not appreciate that the drugs would still be in your system but it’s obvious to those using class A drugs recreationally that there is a risk as regards your ability to drive sometime after consuming.
“You need to face your responsibilities as a mother. I am fully aware you have suffered a bereavement but you are responsible for you children and they are not responsible for your actions. There was significant risk to life by your own driving.”
The hearing was told the incident occurred at a road junction after Brown had been out with the children and the father of one of the girls for a family meal at a restaurant.
Prosecutor Mr Simon Blakebrough said Brown was given a roadside drug test and this indicated she had taken cocaine. A sample of blood was analysed and showed she had 332 milligrams of the cocaine metaboliser Benzoylecgonine (BZE) in 100 millilitres of blood - the legal limit being 50mg.
She was given an eye test and was only able to read a number plate from 13 metres away.
Mr Crowther spent three weeks in hospital, where he suffered a number of seizures and was admitted to an intensive care unit where he was treated for severe traumatic brain injury, soft tissue injury to the shoulder and fractured right ankle. Although he is recovering from his injuries he is still undergoing treatment.
Ten months after the 25mph impact he still suffers from dizziness and concentration problems and has not been able to return to work as an HGV driver. He will have to reapply for his HGV licence.
Brown who has a clean driving record gave no comment in police interview. Her lawyer Miss Rachel Shenton said in mitigation: “She has genuine remorse and is relieved he appears to be making some progress. She was only just above the level for careless driving as she was not driving too fast or over the limit in terms of alcohol - it was also not actual cocaine in her system but the metaboliser and this was what put her over the limit.
“She genuinely believed that she was safe and she would never have driven, not just for the safety of her children but for the safety of others, if she had believed so. She simply would not do it. She called the emergency services herself and waited with him. Although there were reflective properties in his jacket, the shirt and shorts the complainant was wearing were dark and he was not wearing a helmet.
“She really bitterly regrets this and not just for herself but for Mr Crowther. She has two daughters, and neither of them know about this case. She has been unable to tell them. She told me that she simply won’t be able to Mummy home.
“The impact on her children will be enormous.
“She has had serious tell them that is not coming issues of depression and this incident occurred around the anniversary of the death of her twins. This will impact her family and young children.”