Man jailed for running red light and crashing into lorry on Shropshire crossroads
A man who drove through red lights into the path of a lorry injuring himself and his passengers has been jailed.
Kyle Watson and two other men were hurt when the vehicle was involved in a crash at Crudgington crossroads on August 6, 2015.
Mr Howard Searle, prosecuting, told Shrewsbury Crown Court that two of them were airlifted to hospital following the crash at the A442 junction with the B5062 near Telford.
He said a car driver who witnessed the crash described how Watson overtook her at speed and went through the temporary traffic lights.
The lorry driver, a Mr Walker who was unhurt, said Watson “simply drove through them and straight into his vehicle”.
Mr Searle said: “The defendant’s front seat passenger was ejected from the vehicle along with personal items. A police officer and a number of other road users gave assistance to Kyle Watson and his passengers.
“The air ambulance was called and all three of them were taken to hospital. The defendant suffered a broken nose and cuts, while passenger Padraig Owen suffered a broken jaw, a broken nose and lost some of his teeth. The second passenger suffered fractures to his nose, back and chest. None of them gave statements and are due to make a full recovery.
“When the defendant was interviewed in October 2015 he said he could not remember what happened.”
Mr Searle said the case had been delayed because Watson, of Wolverton Road, Dudley, was involved in proceedings at the magistrates’ court.
Watson, 20, admitted two offences of dangerous driving and one offence of driving with excess drugs in blood at an earlier hearing.
Ms Caroline Harris, mitigating, said: “This is clearly a serious case. He acknowledges that he could have killed his friends. He has said he feels bad about what happened.”
She said if he was jailed immediately he would miss his grandfather’s funeral this week.
But Judge Jim Tindal told the court that Watson had shown insufficient cooperation with the probation officers, who reported that he had been abusive towards them ahead of the sentencing hearing.
He added that the court may have considered granting him a suspended jail term.
For the two dangerous driving charges he jailed him for 16 months to be served concurrently, there was no separate penalty for the drug driving charge, but he banned Watson from the road for two years and eight months.
“The incident was a long time ago, almost two years. Whilst I made it pretty clear about your attitude – I get the impression that that you are genuinely remorseful about the injuries to your friends. Ultimately it is them you injured and you are very lucky that they made a full recovery. If you have been more positive in your approach it may have been possible not to send you to prison. Unfortunately you have left me with no option,” Judge Tindal said.
