The driver of a car which hit a teenage motorcyclist did brake 31 metres before the collision, a trial heard.
Brandon Glover, 24, of Pasture Close in Clock Face previously pleaded not guilty to murder, manslaughter, two counts grievous bodily harm with intent, and two counts of attempted GBH on March 14.
Harley Lea, 17, suffered fatal head injuries when he was thrown from the motorbike he was riding after it was struck by Brandon Glover's Toyota Corolla on Park Road, near the junction of Blackbrook Road and Boardmans Lane, in the early hours of October 4 2022. Two other men, Jordan Carter and Louis Coleman, who were passengers on Mr Lea's bike, were also injured.
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Day three of the trial at Liverpool Crown Court, Friday, heard evidence from two collision investigator experts, Mark Hemens for the prosecution and Christopher Goddard for the defence. A court heard the two men conducted independent investigations of the scene, including calculating the average speed Glover’s car was travelling, and broadly agreed on most facts.
Andrew O’Byrne, prosecuting, outlined the facts of the collision with Mr Hemens before he began questioning. It was established and agreed by both experts that the Honda motorbike was the leading vehicle on Park Road, followed by the Benelli motorbike 0.5 of a second later, and finally the Toyota Corolla car 1.5 seconds later.
The experts assessed the speed of the vehicles using CCTV footage, and chose two points on the road which the car travelled between to calculate an average. Mr Hemens and Mr Goddard agreed that the impact between the Toyota and the Honda occurred 8.8 metres after the impact with the Benelli driven by Alexander Owen with passenger Leyland Lee.
It was determined by Mr Hemens that the Honda was travelling between 34 and 39 mph, the Benelli was driving between 41 and 47 mph and the car was driving between 69 and 77 mph. The car first impacted with the Benelli, before colliding with the Honda, driven by Harvey Lea.
Glover pressed his brakes 31 metres before the impact with the first motorbike, the Benelli, which Mr Hemens said is around three bus lengths, and the brake lights remained illuminated until the point of first impact. Stanley Reiz KC, defending, asked Mr Hemens to confirm that all three vehicles were travelling above the speed limit, which he did.
He also established the motorbikes did decelerate as they approached the traffic lights, though when prompted, Mr Hemens declined to say the motorbikes had “significantly” slowed. Mr Reiz asked Mr Hemens if the Toyota car was driving at the lowest possible estimated speed, of 69 mph, then it could not possibly have stopped even if the brakes had been pressed as hard as possible as “it was just going too fast”, and he agreed.
The airbags were also discussed at length by both experts, and it was confirmed they definitely did deploy but neither could determine which impact caused them to.
The trial continues next week.
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