Driver jailed for Smethwick cyclist smash
A driver whose turbo-charged car had bald and defective tyres has been locked up for 11 months for hitting and "catastrophically" injuring a cyclist.
Matthew Hollingshead lost control of his Audi A3 and hit the kerb and a wall before ploughing into prison officer Richard Bennett. The 42-year-old from Lower Gornal was cycling home.
Mr Bennett was on the way home from Birmingham Prison at Winson Green.
He suffered a broken back in three places, shattered shoulder, dislocated right hip, broken nose and teeth and deep tissue damage in the crash last February 21.
Prosecutor Miss Rhiannon Jones told Wolverhampton Crown Court that off-duty police constable Richard Bennett thought he had seen the Audi racing another vehicle shortly before the smash at 9.15pm on Soho Way, Smethwick.
She said:?"He turned to follow it and immediately came upon the scene of the accident. The Audi was at right angle with bits of the bicycle in the road and Mr Bennett lying in the gutter."
Unemployed Hollingshead, aged 27, denied racing and insisted he was not speeding when he lost control of the Audi, which had a special turbo charged engine. One tyre of the vehicle was bald and the others were all defective said Miss Jones.
Hollingshead of Meynell House, Handsworth, admitted dangerous driving.
