Newstalk ZB
A man who has a history of suffering seizure-type events told police he must have “blacked out” after clipping a ute, careering up a kerb and into a pedestrian walking along a footpath. The momentum of the 27-year-old driver’s red Volkswagen shunted pedestrian Adrian Michael Bell through the iron gates of a property. The driver then crashed into two parked cars inside the property, which were pushed into a house, causing damage. Bell died at the scene in the crash that happened nearly five years ago. The driver is now on trial in the Hamilton District Court before Judge Arthur Tompkins on charges of dangerous driving causing death and injury. The defendant’s name has been suppressed since the crash and that will continue through the judge-alone trial, which is set down for three days and will involve 18 Crown witnesses. While the accused admits being the driver of the car that caused the crash and Bell’s death, he is defending the charges on the basis his driving didn’t fall below the standard of a prudent driver and didn’t create a situation that was objectively dangerous. But Crown prosecutor Russell Boot told Judge Tompkins the defendant shouldn’t have been driving that day as he had been issued a medical suspension by a Waikato Hospital doctor in December 2020. What evidence there is of that medical order, and whether any is required, will likely be a key matter in the trial. Several members of Bell’s whānau were in attendance for the start of today’s trial. ‘It was a huge impact and explosion’ The court heard the crash happened at the intersection of Whatawhata Rd and Poaka Ave, on the afternoon of April 26, 2021. Outlining what happened, Boot said the defendant had travelled along Bremworth Ave before he turned on to Poaka Ave, heading north towards Whatawhata Rd. At the same time, Hamilton automotive engineer Jeffrey Dawson was heading towards the city on Whatawhata Rd. As Dawson approached the intersection with Poaka Ave he took a glance and didn’t see any cars waiting or approaching the give way line. He then looked back to the vehicle in front of him and when he was directly opposite the intersection suddenly saw “what I consider to be a flash of red, out of my peripheral vision”. He next felt a “huge impact and explosion” to the right-hand side of his vehicle. “Almost in slow motion, I became aware that suddenly I was on the right side, basically leaning into the driver’s door ... and thinking, ‘oh, I’m now upside down’ and then back up the right way, then back, upside down. “I’m not sure how many times I went over. “I recalled with a thud landing up the right way on the wheels of the vehicle.” Boot said Dawson’s vehicle ended up doing a 180-degree turn and landed facing the way it had been coming from. After hitting Dawson’s car, the defendant’s car went up a kerb, through a road sign and became airborne, striking Bell. A Hamilton man is on trial defending charges of dangerous driving causing injury and death after a crash on April 26, 2021, at the intersection of Poaka Ave and Whatawhata Rd. Photos / Belinda Feek Bell and the VW continued through the iron gates before Bell was thrown into a garden on the property. The car crashed into two parked cars. Bell was found 7m from the footpath. An occupant of the house began giving him first aid until Hato Hone St John staff arrived but Bell died at the scene. When questioned, the defendant told police he “must have blacked out”. Boot said three days before the crash, the defendant went to Anglesea Clinic seeking treatment for breathing difficulties, sleep apnoea and his muscles locking up. He had been forbidden to drive by medical staff in 2019, and on December 10, 2020, after an admission to Waikato Hospital, a doctor forbade him to drive for 12 months. However, NZ Transport Agency’s Ari McBrearty gave evidence the defendant had signed for all of his driver licences, learner’s, restricted and full, on the basis he wasn’t suffering any medical conditions that c...
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