A driver who crashed after fleeing police in an attempt to evade a speeding ticket received a heavy fine in yesterday’s sitting of Magistrates’ Court.

But an apologetic Trovaughn Smith, 29, of Granaway Heights in Southampton, avoided being convicted of violently resisting arrest — after the court heard his struggles with police were motivated by serious injuries rather than further attempts to get away.

According to prosecutor Loxly Ricketts, Smith was pursued by uniformed officers after his westbound motorcycle was clocked at 66kph passing a speed check, at about 9.45pm on April 11, 2013, beside the junction of Church Road and Middle Road in Southampton.

Smith sped onto South Road but collided with another motorcycle. Police said he then tried to flee the scene. An officer subsequently restrained him and Smith resisted as he was placed in handcuffs.

He was arrested, taken to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital for treatment, and later interviewed by police when he made no comment.

Appearing before Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo, Smith admitted the traffic offences, and pleaded guilty to violently resisting arrest after conferring with defence lawyer Charles Richardson.

However, Mr Richardson explained that his client’s right arm had sustained a compound fracture so bad that broken bones were sticking through his skin, which accounted for his resistance when police grabbed his arm to cuff him. The seriousness of the injuries was covered by Smith’s rain gear.

Addressing the court, Smith told Mr Tokunbo: “I’m sorry — I have no previous convictions and don’t plan to have any. I did make a mistake in failing to stop. It was foolish and I don’t plan on doing that ever again.”

He added: “My arm was broken and isn’t functioning how it used to because I made the silly choice of failing to stop.”

Smith also told the court he’d been incarcerated for two months in Westgate and was still fitted with an electronic monitoring device as a result of the incident.

Mr Tokunbo told him: “You see how one silly, dumb mistake leads to all kinds of trouble. Dangerous driving, speeding, failing to stop, two months’ custody and an ankle bracelet — I hope you’ve learned your lesson.”

Smith was fined $150 with two demerit points for failing to stop when requested by police, $100 plus two demerits for disobeying a stop sign, $300 with five demerits for speeding at 66kph, and $1,000 with eight demerits for driving in a dangerous manner.

The magistrate gave him two days to pay the first $250, and until August 29 to cover the remaining $1,300, with 100 days in jail as default.

After looking at Smith’s medical report, Mr Tokunbo accepted the defence’s account of the injuries, and declined to convict him of violently resisting arrest — imposing a six-month conditional discharge instead.