Drugged-up motorcyclist hit schoolboy, 14, in Telford and left him with a fractured skull
A drugged-up motorcyclist who smashed into a 14-year-old bike-riding schoolboy and fractured his skull has avoided prison.
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Joshua Rhodes, aged 20, ploughed into the teen in Crescent Road, Hadley, Telford, sending him flying across the street towards a wall.
Shocking CCTV footage of the collision, which took place on May 31 last year, was played at Shrewsbury Crown Court. It showed Rhodes, who had taken cocaine and cannabis the day before and still had drugs in his system, charging downhill towards the boy.
He did not slow down for the speed bumps in the road and, rather than adjust his speed to avoid the boy, he tried to go around him.
However, the boy, who was playing on the road on his bike, unwittingly entered Rhodes's path and was hit full on.
Joe Collins, prosecuting, said the boy was taken to Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, where a CT scan revealed a fractured skull and a bleed on the brain. The boy was transferred to hospital in Birmingham for immediate surgery.
To Rhodes's credit, he stayed with the boy at the roadside and admitted he had taken drugs to police officers. He was arrested after they carried out a positive drug test.
It was found that Rhodes had 791 microgrammes of benzoylecgonine - a by-product of cocaine - per litre of blood. The legal limit, taking into account the possibility of accidental exposure to cocaine, is 50 mcg. He also had 3.3 mcg of cannabis per litre of blood, the legal limit being 2mcg.
