Jailed: Driver left friend hanging upside down after fleeing 70mph crash
A young driver left a badly injured friend trapped in the wreckage of his car after crashing at high speed while 'showing off' four days after passing his test, a judge heard.
Liam Ward was unconscious and hanging upside down in the overturned Peugeot 307 when Luke Shelley fled from the scene, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
The victim – a front seat passenger who had earlier warned the driver to slow down – had to be cut free from the twisted metal by fire crews.
He woke up in hospital with fractures to his nose and jaw together with damage to his teeth following the smash in Broad Lanes, Bilston.
Shelley, aged 21, lost control while overtaking a van on a bend at around 70mph – over twice the speed limit – shortly before 1am on April 13 last year, said Mr Gareth Walters, prosecuting.
The Peugeot careered across the central reservation, ploughed into two lamp posts, a bollard, the kerb and flipped over.
Shelley climbed out of the wrecked car, ran off and did not give himself up to police until around 10 hours later.
He picked up Mr Ward after seeing him walking in Sedgley and drove him to a McDonald's where he met other friends.
Mr Walters revealed: "The defendant had been speeding on the way and had been told to slow down by Mr Ward."
The victim, who still suffers short term memory loss after the crash, later confirmed in a statement: "He was driving like an idiot, making me feel uneasy. I told him to stop because it was dangerous."
Mr Mukhtar Ubhi, defending, said: "It was a ridiculous piece of driving. He could have killed Mr Ward whom he left bleeding and hanging upside down.
"The defendant was in shock and scared. They were friends, but not any more."
Shelley, who has 12 convictions featuring 18 separate offences, is currently serving a period of detention imposed for an unrelated offence of wounding. He previously lived in Mount Road, Lanesfield, Wolverhampton.
He pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving and failing to stop after an accident.
He was jailed for two years six months with the sentence not starting until his current term behind bars is completed. He was also banned from driving for four and a half years.
Judge Andrew Lockhart QC told him: "You had just passed your test and were showing off. The inevitable happened when you tried to overtake on a bend. You then left a former friend trapped and bleeding in that vehicle.
"He uses words such as betrayal to describe your behaviour."
