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Hit-and-run driver who killed cyclist and hit another minutes later convicted of causing death by dangerous driving

Nathan Schultz will be sentenced on 3 March for killing Agniszka Pocztowska, while his car passenger Kasey Wrench has already been handed a suspended prison sentence

A man who hit and killed a mother-of-three with his car, drove off and hit another cyclist minutes later has been convicted of causing her death by dangerous driving, also pleading guilty to numerous other offences connected with the incident. 

Agnieszka Pocztowska, 41, was riding her bike on Hungerford Road in Crewe at 6.55am on 14 September 2020 when she was hit by 22-year-old Nathan Schultz driving a silver Ford Focus, with 21-year-old Kasey Wrench in a passenger seat. Ms Pocztowska was pronounced dead shortly after the collision. 

Schultz, from Burslem, failed to stop and continued driving towards the M6 motorway, when he hit another cyclist just minutes after fatally injuring Ms Pocztowska. The victim of this second collision, a 53-year-old man, suffered only minor injuries, and Schultz once again failed to stop. 

A manhunt was launched to trace those involved, and the Ford Focus was found abandoned in Trent Vale following enquiries. The car was reported to have had extensive damage to the front windscreen along with three defective tyres.

Schultz was identified as a suspect on the day of the incident, and arrested later that day. Wrench was also quickly identified as the passenger, arrested in connection with the incident and pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, driving without a licence and driving without insurance.

At the time of Wrench's sentencing in December 2021, Crewe Nub News reported from the trial that Wrench was 'half asleep' after a drink and drugs binge, and was a passenger in the Ford Focus until it entered Trent Vale, when he swapped seats with Schultz. Wrench was seen driving the vehicle for 400 metres, with the judge saying that he "...drove the car in a sense of panic because of what the vehicle had been involved in."

Wrench was sentenced to 12 months in prison - suspended for 24 months - plus 200 hours unpaid work, £300 costs, a £136 victim surcharge and a three-year driving disqualification.

While Wrench admitted his involvement straight away following his arrest, Schultz initially refused to answer any questions and pretended to be asleep when he was asked to provide a sample of breath. 

Eventually Schultz pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, failing to provide a specimen, driving without insurance, driving without a licence, two counts of failing to stop following a collision, two counts of failing to report a collision, causing the death of Agnieszka Pocztowska whilst unlicensed and causing the death of Agnieszka Pocztowska whilst uninsured.

PC Robin Fisher, of the Serious and Complex Collision investigation unit, said: “Agnieszka was a loving wife and a devoted mum to her three children.

“She left home that morning and was cycling home to work, but as a result of the actions taken by Schultz and Wrench she never arrived.

“The pair are both responsible for her death, Schultz was driving the car that hit her and Wrench was sat in the passenger seat.

“They were both aware that they had hit Agniszka, but rather than stop at the scene to help her, they purposefully chose to drive off and left her to die at the side of the road.

“Even after the second collision, they continued and thought that they could evade justice. But thankfully, after a complex and detailed investigation, we were able to locate and bring both men to justice for their actions that day.”

Inspector Helen Cooper added: “It has taken more than two years to get to this point, but I hope that the guilty verdict reached today will provide Agniszka’s family with some form of closure.

“The pain and suffering that they have endured is unimaginable and our thoughts are with them at this time.

“This has been one of the most difficult cases that I have ever dealt with in my whole career at Cheshire Constabulary and I would like to thank all of the officers who have been involved in this case and who have all played a role in helping to finally achieve justice for Agnieszka’s family.”

Schultz has been remanded in custody and is due to be sentenced on Friday 3 March. 

Arriving at road.cc in 2017 via 220 Triathlon Magazine, Jack dipped his toe in most jobs on the site and over at eBikeTips before being named the new editor of road.cc in 2020, much to his surprise. His cycling life began during his students days, when he cobbled together a few hundred quid off the back of a hard winter selling hats (long story) and bought his first road bike - a Trek 1.1 that was quickly relegated to winter steed, before it was sadly pinched a few years later. Creatively replacing it with a Trek 1.2, Jack mostly rides this bike around local cycle paths nowadays, but when he wants to get the racer out and be competitive his preferred events are time trials, sportives, triathlons and pogo sticking - the latter being another long story.  

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15 comments

Avatar
mitsky | 1 year ago
3 likes

Your articles are normally spot on in terms of the wording.

May I request that you change

"... when she was hit by a silver Ford Focus being driven by 22-year-old Nathan Schultz..."
to
"... when she was hit by 22 year old Nathan Shultz who was driving a silver Ford Focus..."
?

http://rc-rg.com

Avatar
AlsoSomniloquism | 1 year ago
5 likes

As an aside to this story, a driver (who under Martins rules did nothing wrong as drivers who go through red lights are less dangerous then cyclists) got 10 years. This was after he was boasting he would only get 2-4 and "he hoped he killed them" when being arrested. 

Apparently this was the first case under the tougher sentencing and these plebs should be looking at similar. Also banned for 12 years.

Avatar
HoarseMann replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 1 year ago
4 likes

he wasn't far wrong, he'll probably be out in 5 years unfortunately.

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eburtthebike replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 1 year ago
0 likes

What a poor, sad excuse for a human being, but I'm not sure prison will cure him.  Should have been a lifetime ban.

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birzzles | 1 year ago
6 likes

If this happened to my wife or mother I would make it my personal mission in life to find and torture this person until he accidentally died.

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IanMK | 1 year ago
6 likes

Shocking tragedy. My issue is that driving is an activity that is licenced. Schultz wasn't! Dangerous driving should be restricted to those that are actually licenced driving. In these cases the system is partly at fault for giving someone a licence that wasn't safe to be driving. As far as I'm concerned if they don't have a licence, society has already said you must not drive and it should therefore be manslaughter.

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essexian | 1 year ago
2 likes

I can see nothing in that story which should stop the Judge from giving out the maximum sentence....*

 

 

*Yeah, sorry. I know I should make jokes in cases like this.  He will get no more than 8 years inside plus a five year ban. Now that will be the joke.

Avatar
Muddy Ford | 1 year ago
4 likes

If someone had driven a car into a pedestrian and killed them, then drove into another pedestrian, the terrorist squad would be investigating the incident. But it was cyclists that were hit, so it's obviously just dangerous driving

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Fignon's ghost | 1 year ago
3 likes

There should be a minimum lifetime motoring ban for both criminals.

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BIRMINGHAMisaDUMP replied to Fignon's ghost | 1 year ago
4 likes

A ban is not going to make much difference. The motorists was completely illegal anyway. This is when I would invoke the Iranian judicial system - and seek their advice. 

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chrisonabike | 1 year ago
14 likes

This is tragic.

I'd like to take comfort that in this case the police did their job, actually brought this to court, the CPS agreed and it was Dangerous rather than Careless driving.  Sadly it's already too late for one person and we have a person who - even with the maximum penalty - will probably be out in about 4 1/2 years or less (guilty plea discount etc).

This is someone who thought it was OK to drive without a licence, drive without insurance, hit someone and drive off (twice), not even report it after the fact and then tried to dodge providing a specimen.

I'm not feeling confident they'll be complying with any driving ban they get additional to their sentence.  (Nevertheless - there should be one so that at least something might be done if they're seen driving again).

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alchemilla | 1 year ago
2 likes

It's unclear from reading this why the passenger was given such a sentence, unless it was for perverting the course of justice?

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andystow replied to alchemilla | 1 year ago
9 likes

alchemilla wrote:

It's unclear from reading this why the passenger was given such a sentence, unless it was for perverting the course of justice?

This article sheds some light. He was apparently drunk and on drugs, but did some of the driving after the collisions.

The driver of the Ford was in collision with another cyclist in Haslington before driving out of Cheshire into Stoke-on-Trent, where he swopped [sic] seats with Wrench in Trent Vale, Chester Crown Court heard.

Police tracked the car into the Potteries and later arrested the duo. Wrench, 20, who was seen driving the battered vehicle for 400 metres, was charged with lesser motoring offences.

The driver alleged to be at the wheel at the time of both collisions, Nathan Schultz, of Ellgreave Street, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent faces a trial on more serious charges next year.

Suspending Wrench's 12-month custodial sentence for two years, Judge Simon Berkson told him: "You drove the car for a very short distance, but that is only half the story because this car had been driven by someone else that day and was in a collision that caused catastrophic injuries to a cyclist.

 

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Jack Sexty replied to andystow | 1 year ago
6 likes

Thanks and apologies for missing that, we'll add this detail in. 

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Krd51 | 1 year ago
2 likes

Who's been brought to just certainly not the passenger, who already had a suspended sentence, the driver should swing that's for sure!!!!!

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