Death crash police officer admits error of judgment

Tuesday 30 October 2012

A POLICEMAN accused of causing the death of a taxi driver by dangerous driving broke down in tears in the witness box and admitted: "I made an error of judgment."

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Wilma Riley

Constable David Brown told the High Court in Glasgow he was responding to an "officers in danger" call when his police van smashed into the Fiat Doblo taxi driven by John Lacon, 65.

Brown has admitted a reduced charge of causing the death of Mr Lacon by careless driving on April 29, 2011, at the junction of Dorchester Avenue and Great Western Road in Glasgow. The Crown has not accepted this and has brought a charge of causing death by dangerous driving.

The court was told the emergency call – which police are trained to respond to immediately – came after trouble flared at Kelvingrove Park during the royal wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton. Brown, 30, said that, as he drove along Great Western Road towards the junction with Dorchester Avenue, he realised the only danger was to his left.He said that as he approached the junction the traffic lights were at red and he slowed down from about 40mph to 50mph to between 10mph and 20mph.Brown added: "There was only one point of danger as I came up to the junction and that was from the left-hand side. I slowed down and checked my speed."His defence counsel, Thomas Ross, asked him: "Did you see anything?" He replied: "There was a white taxi coming down. I looked at it and was clear in my mind the taxi has seen me and he's slowed down."I would say he was doing about 10mph when I saw the taxi slowing. I thought it was going to slow just because of the way it came out. His side had the green light. There was no reason for him to be going slow unless he had seen me. I thought he had seen me and was going to stop, but then his speed increased."Brown said he immediately applied his brakes when he realised the taxi was coming through the junction, but said it was too late and there was a tremendous bang.The jury heard that after the crash Brown went over to Mr Lacon's car and assisted him until paramedics arrived.He said: "I could see a gentlemen slumped in the vehicle. I could tell he was quite badly injured. I thought it was his head or his neck. I supported his head as straight as I could to take the weight off his neck and kept him comfortable."Brown said other police officers arrived at the scene and he, as the most experienced officer there, told them to take details of witnesses and ordered the road should be closed.He told the at the High Court in Glasgow: "I thought he was stopping. It was a split-second decision. I judged it and I judged it wrong."Mr Ross said: "Your position is you accept you made a mistake." Brown replied: "Yes. I didn't mean to hurt anybody. I was going to an emergency call and I made a misjudgment. It was my fault."The court heard Brown, who has served with Strathclyde Police for eight years, had undergone specialist driver training.He said he was involved in around four to five emergency calls involving blue lights and sirens each week.The trial continues.

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Death crash police officer admits error of judgment

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