A police officer who was found guilty of breaking a cyclist’s wrist while driving without due care and attention has been fined.
Mark Godfrey Turner, 57, from Barrow, denied the charge but was found guilty at Furness Magistrates’ Court this week.
The court heard how the officer was just moments away from the police station in town when the collision happened.
He was making a right hand turn when he collided with cyclist Daniel Grady at 8.40pm on September 7 last year.
The bicycle, which was two months old and had cost over £900, was damaged, and Mr Grady had a broken wrist and fractured ribs.
According to The Mail, Mr Grady told the court: “I saw the car and thought, in the back of my mind, ‘he is going to go’.
“I had a feeling so I reacted and slammed the brakes on. I tried slowing down but I couldn’t do it in time.”
As well as four penalty points, Turner was ordered to pay court costs of £750, a fine of £300 and a victim surcharge of £30.
14 thoughts on “Police officer fined for breaking cyclist’s wrist while driving without due care and attention”
“Turner repeatedly denied
“Turner repeatedly denied seeing the cyclist as he approached the junction” -This from a professional witness.
obviously he was there
obviously he was there because you run him down, doesnt really matter in law you didnt see him, durr! What a stupid copper
You’d think that not seeing
You’d think that not seeing him was an admission of “without due care and attention”
It’s an odd one, “I didn’t
It’s an odd one, “I didn’t see” is normally the get out of jail free card, perhaps he should have said something about the sun being in the sky, that ones full proof.
Sod the fine, this is an
Sod the fine, this is an arrogant police officer who had the audacity to plead not guilty when he so obviously was. Hit him with a misconduct in public office charge and so take his pension away.
Too lenient in my opinion.
It was a bee. A bee flew –
It was a bee. A bee flew – from out of the sun obviously – into the car. Guaranteed get off.
IME, the police seem to think
IME, the police seem to think normal rules of driving don’t apply.
As a sidenote, this was the first tweet I saw this morning.
https://twitter.com/lucullus/status/886174185931853824
£30 victim surcharge… For
£30 victim surcharge… For those injuries? Presumably the cyclist is taking the police/driver to court for thousands in compensation?
ChrisB200SX wrote:
The victim surcharge doesn’t go directly to the victim of this particular incident, it goes into a fund like the uninsured drivers fund which you can make a claim to if you are hit by a uninsured driver.
Hopefully the cyclist will be able to make a claim against the police insurance for the bike and any costs incurred.
Quote:
Typical cyclist not knowing how to brake. Another case of all the gear and no idea…
Just goes to show, even the
Just goes to show, even the police can make mistakes. However, he did stop, and called an ambulance.
burtthebike wrote:
…and lie. He should have pleaded guilty. He is an embarrassment to the police force, although I suspect few of his colleagues will see it that way. At least we have a somewhat independent judiciary.
Pub bike wrote:
Where does it say he lied?
Reality is that this police
Reality is that this police officer was MORE likely to be prosecuted than a member of the public would have been in the same circumstances .
Assuming there were no aggravating features to it most police forces would not prosecute a member of the public in similar circumstances as it would be put down to ‘a momentary loss of concentration’ and not ‘driving without due care and attention’. This is not my opinion. This is fact.
The officer was prosecuted as it would have looked poor from a PR perspective to let him off.
Knocked a cyclist down while on police duty right outside the police station and they go and let him off?
Not a publicly acceptable outcome.