BMW driver admits dragging cyclist
A single father has admitted causing a four-vehicle smash which led to a motorcyclist being dragged along a road as he clung onto his bike for life.
Jevon Butterfield, 32, of Verdmont Road, Devonshire, led Police on a high-speed chase from Devonshire to Paget in a red BMW on Friday evening. Prosecutor Nicole Smith told Magistrates’ Court on Monday that at one point his car was estimated to be travelling in excess of 120 kph.
Butterfield, who told the court he has sole custody of his two children, a boy and girl aged eight and five, eventually hit a motorcycle on South Road while trying to overtake a long line of traffic, causing the vehicle to hit a car. A Police bike is also understood to have been involved in the crash.
Ms Smith said the motorcycle was forced 50 metres down the street with “the rider clinging for life to his cycle”.
She said the rider, John Ricardo Dill, of Sears Hill, Smith’s, was eventually thrown from the front of the car onto the street and suffered abrasions to his body and an injury to his head which required stitches.
Mr. Dill’s cycle was destroyed. The BMW came to a stop after hitting a wall. “The driver got out of the car and ran off in a northerly direction through the western entrance of the Botanical Gardens,” said Ms Smith. “He did not speak to anyone, he just cursed a lot.”
She said Police caught Butterfield in Garden Drive and arrested him. Butterfield pleaded guilty to causing bodily harm to Mr. Dill by reckless, wanton or furious driving. He also admitted driving while disqualified and failing to stop at the scene of an accident.
He denied driving while impaired by alcohol or drugs, refusing to give Police a breath test, having no third-party insurance and violently resisting arrest.
The court heard that he was disqualified from driving in 2002 and 2004. Butterfield, a Belco worker for the last ten years, said: “I humbly apologise for my behaviour.”
He told the court he had cared for his children since his divorce in 2004. “I would like to be able to continue to provide for them in the best way possible,” he said. “I just ask that you have mercy on me.”
Rick Woolridge, for Butterfield, asked the court to be understanding and not impose a jail term because of his client’s responsibilities. Butterfield will stand trial at Magistrates’ Court for the matters he denies on November 6.
Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner asked for a social inquiry report prior to sentencing for the other offences on December 15.
The defendant was granted $5,000 bail with one surety.