Drink-driver jailed after seriously injuring teen in Bognor crash
The 17-year-old boy was left with spinal injuries after being thrown into a lamp-post
A drink-driver who left a 17-year-old cyclist with catastrophic injuries in a collision on the A259 in Bognor Regis has been jailed.
Portsmouth Crown Court heard that Benjamin Grimmett had been drinking with friends on West Wittering beach prior to the collision on June 17th last year.
He was driving his red Kia Rio north west along the A259 Charles Purley Way at around 11.55pm when the rear wheel of the car struck a concrete central island.
That caused it to cross over the opposite carriageway and mount the pavement on the other side where it hit a 17-year-old boy who had been cycling with his friend on the pavement.
The impact sent him into a lamppost and caused catastrophic, life-threatening injuries including spinal damage, multiple broken bones and a bleed on the brain.
He came to a stop in the nearside lane around one mile away, where he failed a roadside breathalyser test.
Grimmett, who is 22 and now of Church Road in Rustington, failed to stop at the scene despite damage to his windscreen making it virtually impossible to see through.
He was arrested on suspicion of being in charge of a motor vehicle with excess alcohol in his system and for failing to stop at the scene of a road traffic collision.
A search in custody found Grimmett was in possession of both Class A and B drugs and a further breath test found he had 54 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 50mcg per 100ml of breath.
He had previously pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving, possession of Class A and B drugs and driving while under the influence of alcohol prior to his sentencing at Portsmouth Crown Court last Friday (July 9th).
Grimmett was sentenced to 28 months in prison and banned from driving for 50 months.