A Radcliffe man has been banned from driving after leading cops on a high-speed chase through Bolton. The pursuit came to an abrupt end when Stefan James-Authe crashed his Volkswagen Golf into a traffic light and a wall, causing it to flip onto its roof.
Police officers then had to pull the 33-year-old from the overturned car. When a passer-by asked if James-Authe was okay, one officer responded: “He’s been involved in a pursuit. He’s done that to himself.”
Prosecuting, Keith Jones told Bolton Crown Court that James-Authe had been drinking in the town centre on the evening of January 22, with his partner. At around 3am the following morning, James-Authe was driving and a patrol car asked him to stop.
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Instead, he sped off, driving 70mph in a 30mph zone and running a number of red lights. James-Authe also drove on the wrong side of the road on a number of occasions and ignored a ‘no entry sign’ to drive down a one-way-street the wrong way.
He eventually crashed on the junction of Turton Road and Bradshaw Brow and his car flipped onto its roof. Officers then dragged a clearly distressed James-Authe from the vehicle and arrested him, which was detailed on body-worn footage shown in court.
During an interview, James-Authe told police that he had drunk one pint of Fosters, as well as a single Jack Daniels and Coke. He added that he sped off after seeing the police car because he ‘panicked’ and thanked officers for getting him out of the car so quickly. James-Authe, of Kirkstall Gardens, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving.
Defence barrister Richard Dawson told the court that James-Authe’s father, partner, and brother-in-law had all written character references. He added that James-Authe is in full-time employment and a probation report made reference to James-Authe having ‘two dependent children’.
The judge, Recorder Simon Hilton sentenced James-Authe to a 12-month community order and banned him from driving for a year. He said: “Video footage played to the court emphasises more the humiliation for you and the disruption that you caused about people going about their job. There are more things that police officers could be doing in Bolton town centre on a Saturday night/Sunday morning rather than chasing you."
Accepting that the incident was ‘out of character’, Recorder Hilton added: “Your family clearly value you, stand by you and support you, as does someone who works alongside you.”
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