Jailed, poster girl PC who paralysed boy in 999 smash
A POLICE ‘poster girl’ was yesterday jailed over a horrific 999 call smash which left a boy paralysed with catastrophic brain injuries.
The devastated mother of Khia Whitehead – aged 15 at the time of the crash in 2020 – said she would ‘never forgive’ PC Sarah De Meulemeester.
The Greater Manchester officer, 26, was ‘caught up in the adrenaline of the moment’ when responding to a call, a court heard. Khia was hit when De Meulemeester – part of a convoy travelling at up to 61mph in a 30mph limit – passed a traffic island on the wrong side of the road.
The court was told the first car had its siren and flashing lights on, but De Meulemeester – who was jailed for two-and-ahalf years – did not.
Khia’s mother, Laura Whitehead, said the officer had destroyed her son’s life.
In a victim impact statement read before De Meulemeester’s sentencing at Liverpool Crown Court, Ms Whitehead said her son was ‘now like a newborn baby’ who ‘will never graduate or have children of his own’.
She added: ‘You took that away from him. He is trapped in his own world with no quality of life... I will never forgive you for destroying his life.’
Ms Whitehead described sitting at her son’s bedside begging him not to die and the ‘torture of preparing for the worst but hoping for the best.’
The court heard De Meulemeester was driving the second of three marked police cars to a domestic violence incident.
As a basic level police driver, she was required to observe all speed limits and was not entitled to exemptions available to those with advanced training.
Khia was standing with a friend in the hatched area behind the traffic island when the first police car, with its blue lights on, sped past.
The jury heard he was distracted and stepped into the road to cross, not realising the defendant’s vehicle – which had slowed to 42mph before the impact – and another car were following.
A talented footballer who had trials with Rochdale FC, Khia was left in a persistent vegetative state following the collision in Stockport on Boxing Day 2020.
He needed 11 operations and, although there has been slight improvement, will require 24-hour care for the rest of his life. De Meulemeester was convicted of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Judge David Aubrey, KC, told her: ‘I suspect you were caught up in the adrenaline of the moment. You should not have been driving at the speeds you were.’
After being sworn in as an officer in 2019, De Meulemeester, of Chinley, Derbyshire, appeared as a recruitment ‘poster girl’ with Greater Manchester’s then chief constable, Ian Hopkins. She is now likely to be dismissed from her job.
David Temkin, KC, defending, said: ‘She is deeply, deeply remorseful.’
‘l will never forgive you for destroying his life’