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news
Lambeth Walk (Google Maps)"Violent driver" avoids jail after deliberately ramming cyclist into parked HGV, causing spinal fractures
A "violent driver" who deliberately rammed a cyclist into a parked HGV — leaving his victim with spinal fractures that reduced him to "a hollow shell of a person, barely able to get out of bed" — has avoided jail.
Adam Ruszkowski was handed a two-year suspended sentence suspended for two years by a judge at London Crown Court, and will have to pay Thomas Purchase £3,000 in compensation, having pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving in relation to what the judge described as a "moment of madness".
The Daily Mail reported details of the case from court, Ruszkowski also required to complete 40 days of rehabilitation activity and 200 hours of unpaid work, the 37-year-old single father to twin boys banned from driving for two years.
"One inconsiderate, violent driver who wanted to show who was boss"
The court heard that at around 11.30am on 29 August 2023, Mr Purchase was riding his bike along Lambeth Walk in Kennington when he passed Ruszkowski's vehicle.
"You thought he had broken your wing mirror, which it appears caused you to lose your temper and to do what you did next," judge Darren Reed summarised.
The enraged driver accelerated and followed Mr Purchase, driving in "close proximity" and "coming alongside him". Judge Reed said the cyclist had been "sandwiched between the two vehicles and was not on his bike".
Eyewitness reports were clear that Ruszkowski had "deliberately swerved" into the cyclist, ramming him into a parked HGV and causing spinal fractures.
"Unsurprisingly your actions had a substantial impact on Mr Purchase," the judge continued. "His partner had to care for him. He suffered spinal fractures. This was a moment of madness. Mr Purchase could have been killed by your actions, which, I'm sure, is something you have reflected on."
Prosecutor George Jackson explained how the victim was taken to St Thomas' Hospital and has not been able to cycle again since due to "ongoing pain and discomfort".
In his victim impact statement Mr Purchase explained how he "became a hollow shell of a person, barely able to get out of bed" following the incident.
"The impact was so violent and so forceful that I was unable to move my legs. My arms were reduced to uncoordinated wet noodles," he recalled. "I will be forever grateful to the kind members of the public who came to my aid that day, called the emergency services and bought me ice packs for the pain.
> Hit-and run driver who killed London cyclist jailed for 11 years
"During the whole ordeal the individual who had run me down was nowhere to be seen. I became a hollow shell of a person, barely able to get out of bed."
Ruszkowski's legal representation Oliver Snodin suggested his client had "expressed empathy and remorse towards the complainant".
"This was a moment of madness that was a reaction to the complainant's actions," he said. "He is self-employed as a plumber. He has had to adapt to not being able to drive any more. It is frankly something he has had to get used to. He takes jobs in the local area. He doesn't have the means to carry around large tools."
Dan is the road.cc news editor and joined in 2020 having previously written about nearly every other sport under the sun for the Express, and the weird and wonderful world of non-league football for The Non-League Paper. Dan has been at road.cc for four years and mainly writes news and tech articles as well as the occasional feature. He has hopefully kept you entertained on the live blog too.
Never fast enough to take things on the bike too seriously, when he's not working you'll find him exploring the south of England by two wheels at a leisurely weekend pace, or enjoying his favourite Scottish roads when visiting family. Sometimes he'll even load up the bags and ride up the whole way, he's a bit strange like that.
Latest Comments
- chrisonabike 55 min 54 sec ago
Well I certainly produce a considerable steam by-product at this time of the year....
- SaveTheWail 1 hour 29 min ago
'I was so lucky that I was doing the speed limit' (!) http://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c17d598vj0qo
- Miller 1 hour 46 min ago
That's a shame. He seemed like a decent guy and he had a good no-fuss website. Bought a few things from him over the years and he was contactable...
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It's mentioned in benefit #2 in the article...
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Pneu ballon and hookless rims are back, I still have some 27" Birmalux rims in the shed somewhere.
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Well yes, but it is the holidays
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I have the gross misfortune to live on her "patch". The state of roads policing (and the actual roads) and consequent danger everytime one gets on...
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Thank you for that excellent forensic analysis, I couldn't figure out where I'd gone wrong! Must drink more coffee and put on glasses before trying...
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Strangely, I've ridden all of those roads/routes you describe (and a lot more in Noerthern England) entirely without a gizmo of any kind, other...
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Effective little things. Even have them on my Good Bike, my least reflectored. Still working through packs of them I got very cheap at Tesco.
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59 comments
3 grand doesn't sound very much. I've been awarded amounts not a lot less than that even for relatively minor injuries.
This clearly meets the UK legal definition of Attempted Murder Category C, Harm 1 or 2. Typical custodial time of 2 to 5 years.
This case sends a clear message that its OK to intentionally use your vehicle as a weapon to cause serious injury, the law will protect you. Until the legal system starts treating cyclists as humans, these incidents will continue to happen.
And of course the Daily Mail article has comments reinforcing the message that it's OK to wipe out cyclists - even if you get caught you won't suffer too much.
"He is self-employed as a plumber. He has had to adapt to not being able to drive any more. It is frankly something he has had to get used to. He takes jobs in the local area. He doesn't have the means to carry around large tools."
What rubbish.
Of course he can still carry large tools. He could get a bike trailer or a cargo bike, then he can carry some pretty big tools - anything I've ever seen a plumber carry in their van will go on a bike trailer or on a cargo bike without a problem. Then once he is being regularly harassed by motorists, maybe he will understand.
Suspended sentence. You kill me. No really, you do.
I should put this Solicitor on a retainer, may come in handy when I ram a mini pump up the rear end of a "violent driver" suffering from "a moment of madness"....
GC66: "What do you mean - I got 5 years?"
Hotshot solicitor: "I would have got you less, but it's inflation, innit?"
🤣
What mechanisms are there for pushing for this to be re-examined?
It's absolute madness. Why on earth is not being able to manage one's emotions ever able to be used in defense of a serious crime? What other crimes does it negate?
We all have a duty to manage our emotions, if it's proven you can't (as here) you should be banned from being allowed to be in those situations.
Unfortunately there is a restricted list of offences for which the Attorney General's office will consider an appeal against undue leniency, and causing serious injury by dangerous driving is not one of them.
2 years in jail, over 6 year ban.
Westbrook overtook three to four cars and two cyclists while approaching a right-hand bend.
The rider of the motorcycle – a man who was aged 41 at the time of the collision – was travelling in the opposite direction towards Hintlesham.
He was left with nowhere to go when faced with Westbrook’s van coming towards him on his side of the road. On impact, he was catapulted into the air and landed on his back.
He suffered a number of injuries, including fractures to his vertebrae, fractured ribs and collapsed lungs. His spinal cord injury is so severe that he will not regain any function in his legs and will be a wheelchair user for life.
https://www.eadt.co.uk/news/24117376.daniel-westbrook-jailed-hadleigh-cr...
Not sure it's that much better for a m/c
I'd have said a lifetime ban for the van driver would be appropriate given the extent of injuries to the motorcyclist. I hope the biker's insurance company is at least able to extract every single penny of the £1 million + due in compensation.
I can't see how £1m would be remotely close to enough.
Lifetime care requirements. Care homes run at what, £750-1600/week. So 40-80k/year.
Usual rule for careful, low risk investment is 4% return. Quick google suggests this is what pension companies are offering if you want a lifetime annuity aged 55. So you need a £1m investment pot to cover basic care at 40k/year. And that assumes costs don't go up...
Given the severity of the injuries, the requirements wont be basic care, so I would suggest a couple of million just to cover potential care costs. We haven't gotten into any other considerations yet...
at age 55 this is the case, what about at age 41?
Attempted murder is tolerated if the victim is a cyclist. It's considered 'anti-car' to jail someone for the trivial offence of using the car as a lethal weapon. Remember Rishi and Harper are on the side of these oppressed motorists. Cyclist Mr Alliston was jailed for 18mths for killing a pedestrian. He didn't chase his victim down, or ride his bike into her simply because she was a pedestrian. He rode a bike that was deemed to have insufficient brakes and was jailed. This driver chased after the cyclist and was seen deliberately ramming him into an HGV with his car, yet its deemed to be a 'moment of madness' and his hardship is not being able to drive for 2yrs. Perhaps the cyclist would get a similar sentence, if in a moment of madness, he shoots the driver with a gun. His hardship would be being banned from using a gun for 2yrs.
Judge "Mr Purchase could have been killed by your actions......"
But hey, attempted murder isn't that serious if you use a car as the weapon, so here's suspended sentence. Is there any other case of assault with a deadly weapon causing life-changing injuries which could have caused death that is treated as lightly as driving at someone?
"He doesn't have the means to carry around large tools."
get a cargo bike. Then, hopefully, you might get a taste of your own medicine.
This is an attack on purpose with a homicide being a very possible outcome.
From now maybe I should do some overtime and get stressed at work and gain some sets of 3K, carry a foldable Strida bike and hit whoever I don't like his face and then throw the Strida bike on his (broken?) legs. I will have 40 days to relax from my stressful overtime at work.
This is beyond rediculous, so much pain, frustration and anger for the victim. This judge needs to imagine his wife or sister was handicapped due to the perpetrators momentary madness. The victim was on a bicycle, does the judge lose his/her lack of judgement due to this single fact? Maybe the judge needs to ask, " What would the punishment be if the victim was a pedestrian or in a wheelchair?".
Totally lost for words, I wish Mr Purchase all the best.
This soft-touch judge is contempable.
It's not even a lifetime driving ban, he's just inconvenienced for 2 years.
I hope Mr Purchase carries out a private prosecution and bankrupts the fucker.
What the actual fvck? Did the drivers in the cases published over the last week or so all happen to know the judges?
If you stab someone with a knife in a moment of madness is carries a 10 year sentence.
If you crush someone with a motor vehicle it carries a two year suspended sentence, three grand fine, 200 hours community work and a two year driving ban.
What a f&*king joke. What planet does this judge live on.
At the very bare minimum, that scumbag should never be allowed to drive again and his actions should 100% put him in prison.
Also.. they really should not take into account 'expressions of empathy and remorse' they really are insulting in cases like this.
The 'empathy' might have worked better at the time of the incident, when he could have used his empathy to try to understand what being hit with a car would feel like…
Can't Just blame the judge here - also blame the police and CPS for not bringing assault/GBH/wounding with intent charges.
The complainant's alleged actions, surely, Mr Snodin? The motorist, according to the judge, thought that the victim had damaged the mirror. Nobody has said they actually did it.
I think the action was that the cyclist had overtaken the car. That's normally enough to get most motorists mad in my experience.
As I've said before, for serious cases like this a serious punishment needs to be doled out.
Otherwise the news to other criminals is that they will simply get away with it.
My usual suggestion also applies: loss of taste buds and libido.
And "If the punishment is just a fine, then it means it is legal for the rich."
for serious cases like this a serious punishment needs to be doled out
Except, it isn't- as we see frequently on here. Likewise, close passing is not decreasing, to say the least of it. This is a consequence of the pretence at encouraging 'active travel' while not meaning a word of it- and the law enforcement agencies taking a lead from that knowledge
Not even pretending any more; they cut the active travel budget by 75%. This government is despicable.
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