Constable sorry for ‘10 seconds of madness’

CONSTABLE Shane Greville’s skills behind the wheel have earned him ‘‘gold certified driver’’ status in the police.

But an off-duty display of boyracer stupidity that his lawyer calls ‘‘10 seconds of madness’’ have cost the Hawke’s Bay officer his licence for 10 months.

Greville’s career hangs in the balance a year after his ‘‘showing off’’ to mates in a recently-bought ‘‘muscle car’’ led to a smash in which an elderly woman required hospital treatment.

After drinking with friends in Havelock North, Greville left at about 6pm in his 1967 Chevrolet Camaro, understood to have cost him $89,000 three months earlier.

He accelerated through a roundabout in a 50kmh zone and hit a top speed that police investigators estimated to be at least 91kmh as he ‘‘undertook’’ a vehicle on the left side of the road.

Spotting the 74-year-old driver of another car in his path, Greville slammed on the brakes, pulling a 50m skid before rear-ending the woman’s car and ploughing it into a fence. She suffered heavy bruising to her face and ribs.

Greville was breathalysed and found to be under the legal alcohol limit. In Hastings District Court yesterday he was fined $1000 and disqualified from driving for 10 months. He had earlier pleaded guilty to careless driving causing injury.

He was also ordered to make a $1000 emotional harm payment to the woman he injured.

Greville’s lawyer, Jonathan Krebs, said the policeman was deeply remorseful and accepted responsibility for his careless actions, which had been the result of 10 seconds of madness. He had since sold the Camaro ‘‘and is very pleased to be rid of it’’.

As well as previously being recognised by police for his driving skills, Greville had received a silver medal for bravery, bestowed after he attended a domestic dispute alone and was confronted by a man with a firearm. He managed to resolve the situation between the couple without incident.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Simon Chamberlain said Greville was responsible for ‘‘a deliberate act of speeding’’ rather than a momentary lapse of concentration.

Judge Gerard Winter said Greville’s remorse was ‘‘palpable’’, and had included paying the victim’s $1000 insurance excess and lending her his family’s only other

Shane Greville car. The judge said he acknowledged Greville’s 14-year career and his ‘‘unquestionable good character’’, but all offenders needed to be treated equally by the court no matter.

He said the cause of the accident was the speed at which Greville was travelling, and the fact he was driving a recentlyacquired left-hand-drive car which was likely to have meant he misjudged his reactions.

A spokeswoman for Eastern Districts police said an employment investigation would determine whether Greville would remain a police officer. He has been on restricted police duties since the crash.