Teen driver from Grimsby who crashed into lorry during police chase on A180 gets suspended sentence
By: A teenager who crashed into a lorry at over 100 miles an hour while being chased by the police in Lincolnshire has been given a suspended prison sentence
Oliver Clark, aged 19, from Weelsby Street in Grimsby, failed to stop for officers on the A180 in Cleethorpes last July.
The dashcam footage released by Humberside police shows the white Ford Fiesta car being driven erratically, swerving across lanes before smashing into a 32 tonne lorry.
The force of the impact was such that the lorry was pushed off the road, coming to rest in trees at the bottom of an embankment.
A police officer's car was also hit as Clark’s car rebounded off the rear of the lorry.
Officer’s feared Clark’s car would set alight and "risked their own lives to recover him from his car and provide first aid," a police spokesperson said.
Clark spent four days in a coma following the crash. The driver of the lorry escaped with minor injuries.
PC Sean Hutchinson from the Humberside Police Serious Collision Unit said: “Due to the dangerous manner of Clark’s driving, it was not possible to immediately bring the pursuit to a safe resolution, as to do so could have risked endangering the lives of the officers engaged in the pursuit.
“Clark then drove at speeds in excess of 100MPH up the Barnetby Top slip road and collided with the rear of a 32-tonne lorry which was also heading up the slip road. "
Judge John Thackray KC handed Clark a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, he also banned Clark from driving for two years and ordered him to take an extended retest before he gets his driving licence back.
Judge John Thackray KC said: “You should consider yourself extremely fortunate.” It was only “pure chance” that he or no one else was killed in the pursuit and the collision."