A serving Tayside Police officer accused of ”showboating” in his high-powered Audi A3 before colliding with two pedestrians in Dundee has been found guilty of careless driving.
PC Scott George Kerr (40), who was off duty at the time, ”drove at maximum acceleration” before striking Turriff couple Roderick and Shirley Emslie, injuring both, on a pedestrian crossing on the dual carriageway at Riverside Drive, near Discovery Point, on July 4 last year.
He had denied the offence but was found guilty by Sheriff George Way.
However, Kerr escaped a ban after the sheriff imposed six penalty points and fined him £750.
He told him: ”You accelerated from the lights at excessive speed and it was that excessive speed and perhaps general lack of attention that caused you to fail to observe Mr and Mrs Emslie.”
Kerr could now face disciplinary action as the force has confirmed the matter will be referred to the deputy chief constable for consideration of disciplinary measures.
After the verdict, Mr and Mrs Emslie said they believed Kerr should have been banned.
Mr Emslie (51) said: ”I think if it was you or me who had run someone down, we would have got banned.”
Mrs Emslie (47) added: ”We’re both just glad we’re here, although I’m still off work. I’d have been happier if he got a ban.”
At an earlier hearing, the court heard the couple were halfway over the crossing when Kerr’s silver Audi collided with them.
Mr Emslie told the court how he was struck by the car knocking him unconscious, ripping off part of his ear and leaving him with a fractured skull and broken nose.
His wife said seconds before the impact she heard the ”skirl” of tyres on a dry surface and looked to her right where the car was coming towards them, ”quite erratically” and weaving between lanes.
She told the court her elbow smashed the car’s wing mirror and then the vehicle drove over her right foot.
”I felt I was spun right round and flipped,” she said. ”I had a bruised elbow, a broken finger, bruising to the foot and buttock and fracture of the leg.”
When the trial resumed on Tuesday, Kenneth Pottinger (62), a company director of a motor dealership, said he had seen the car accelerating ”very fast”.
He said: ”I was standing there talking to my wife and I heard the sound of a powerful engine. It was the sound a car makes when it’s under maximum acceleration.
”The car was under maximum acceleration and going very, very fast. I saw this car taking off from the lights at a very fast rate of knots and the driver wasn’t even looking out the front window.
”I would say it was somebody showboating showing off. It was very fast, much faster than 30 miles an hour. The next thing I saw was people getting thrown up in the air off the front of the car.”
Simon Mortlock (55), a marine consultant, said he had been stopped at a set of lights when PC Kerr pulled up beside him.
Mr Mortlock said: ”When the lights went to green I started to pull forward but the car on my inside shot off straight away and accelerated quite quickly. The car was accelerating all the time and going, in my view, very fast.”
In evidence, Kerr denied driving at excessive speed and said he thought the couple must have stepped on to the crossing when the red man was showing as the lights were green for drivers.
He said he had driven away from the first set of lights ”as normal” at the entrance to the train station and had double checked the next set of lights, which were green.
He said when he looked back to the road the couple were crossing in front of him and he tried to avoid them.
A spokesman for Tayside Police said: ”Tayside Police acknowledges the decision of the court today and the matter will now be referred to the deputy chief constable for further consideration.”