A hospital worker was left crawling in broken glass with a fractured collarbone and injured spine after being crashed into by a hit and run teenager.
Zander Sumner was knocked unconscious and awoke to see his own blood splatter when he was crashed into by a BMW while driving on the A59 on his way home from a shift at Priory Hospital.
The driver, Dylan Smith, 19, had attempted to overtake a large vehicle in a “very foolish manoeuvre” before realising there was insufficient room and smashing into Mr Sumner’s Fiat 500.
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Prosecuting, Briony Cook told Blackburn Magistrates Court that Mr Sumner was on his way home from work at around 7.30pm on February 2. As he drove along Longsight Road near Northcote Hotel, he could see a HGV coming towards him and then the BMW coming around it “at high speed” on a bend.
Ms Cook said that Mr Sumner slammed on his brakes and braced for impact, believing he was going to die. He momentarily blacked out but has no idea how long this lasted. When he woke up, he felt intense pain and was left trying to work out where the blood was coming from and realised it was his hand.
Unable to find his phone in the badly damaged car, he forced his way out of the vehicle at great difficulty, only able to use one arm, and fell onto the road where he landed on broken glass before crawling away from the vehicle in a bid to get help.
Ms Cook told the court that Mr Sumner is still continuing to receive treatment for his injuries as well as suffering from PTSD, flashbacks and nightmares as a result of the crash. He said he is haunted by the taste of blood, the smell of smoke, the fear of being run over as he crawled to the pavement, and the sound of his wife’s scream as she arrived at the scene.
A victim personal statement also laid out the pain of the recovery, with Mr Sumner losing out on income as he wasn’t yet eligible for sick pay from his job; requiring assistance with everyday tasks; being unable to wash, dress and play with his children; and not even being able to distract himself by playing music or reading because of his injuries.
As Mr Sumner remained in agony and fear, Smith had run away from the scene and gone back to his home at Derwent Close, Leyland. Police traced the vehicle to his address but when they visited his home that evening, he pretended to have sold the car days earlier and claimed to have no knowledge of the incident.
However, that lie was undone by a DNA test of blood on the airbag.
Ms Cook said that at a voluntary police interview, Smith, admitted being the driver and said he had panicked when he decided to run away.
Today, he pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention, failing to stop, failing to report an accident, and driving without insurance.
Defending, Jane Novas-Morell said that Smith had acted in “blind panic” and followed the advice of the friend who was in the car with him and told him to run away. She said he had apologised at the police station and had offered to make recompense to the victim.
Ms Novas-Morell said her client works as a bricklayer, having taken an apprenticeship after leaving school aged 16, and has never previously been before court.
He was given a 12 month community order which included 200 hours of unpaid work and a six month driving ban. Smith was also ordered to pay a total of £300 in compensation and costs.
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