Smash ‘like a movie’
A MOTORIST involved in a six-car smash at a busy Cairns intersection said he felt like he was “watching a movie” as an out-of-control vehicle ran a red light and came barrelling straight towards him.
David White said he was stopped on Martyn St at the intersection of Florence St on Monday afternoon when the drama unfolded and a Holden Commodore smashed into five other cars as it attempted to evade a tailing police car.
“It was pretty scary,” he said.
“It was going straight towards us, it just missed the front corner of our car and hit the car beside us.
“It’s just very lucky everyone was in their cars and there were no motorbikes or pedestrians or it could have been really bad.”
The Commodore driver, Woree man Aaron Richard Mckewin, 27, is set to be sentenced next month after pleading guilty to seven charges – six related to the crash.
The court heard he fled the scene after causing the crash and was disqualified from driving at the time
“You had passengers and you left them,” Magistrate Terence Browne said to Mr Mckewin while denying bail.
The court was told this was his third dangerous driving incident in the past three years, having served jail sentences for the other two incidents and Magistrate Browne said releasing him could endanger the community.
“It is inevitable you will receive a lengthy prison sentence for this matter,” he said.
Emergency services were called to the crash which occurred just before 4.30pm, with paramedics needing to treat several people.
Three were taken to Cairns Hospital including a woman in her 50s with chest pain, a female in her 20s with hip and shoulder pain, and a female in her 20s with a leg laceration and possible spinal injury. All three were in a stable condition.
Mckewin is due to be sentenced on December 18 for six driving charges and an unrelated trespassing offence.