Court hears how Hayley Adamson stepped into car's path

Apr 3 2009 by Rob Kennedy, The Journal

A SPEEDING policeman hit a teenager so hard she was flung more than 50 metres down a road, a court heard.

Hayley Adamson, 16, died after stepping out into the path of PC John Dougal's traffic patrol car in the West End of Newcastle.

Dougal had been chasing a car not even fleeing from him when he hit the 16-year-old.

Accident investigators found his Volvo was doing between 68 and 72mph at the moment it hit the youngster and the force of the impact was enough to hurl Hayley ‘50 metres plus’ down Denton Road.

It was also revealed that Dougal’s car was up to 91 metres away from the 16-year-old when she first stepped into the road, well within the stopping distance of a vehicle travelling at the legal limit of 30mph.

PC Dale Cowie, an accident investigator with Durham Police, said: “At the time Hayley entered the road the furthest away the car was would have been 91.39 metres.

“If the car had been driven at 30mph the stopping distance would have been within that.”

A jury has heard Dougal had been responding to a hit on his onboard registration number recognition system as he passed a Renault Megane.

He accelerated up to 94mph to try to stop the car, hitting Hayley as he did so. It later transpired the information on the police car computer had been out of date.