Pedestrian catapulted in the air by car as he crossed road, court hears

A woman spoke of the horrifying moment she saw her husband flung in the air after a car hit him as he crossed the road.

Andy Clark was carrying two hot mochas and a bacon roll back to their car from Costa when he was hit by a car driven by Kamal Rezaye on Portland Road, Hove.

Rezaye, 24, is on trial for driving without due care and attention at Brighton Magistrates Court today.

Mr Clark’s wife Jenny told the court: “I heard a horrible thud. It was a noise that will never leave me.

“There was no sound of a horn or brakes or anything to indicate that someone was slowing down, just this thud.

“I saw my husband flying through the air towards the back of the car.

“Immediately I saw that, I jumped out of the car and called his name and saw him tumbling back on the road and he came to a stop in the middle of the road.

“He was lying in a feotal position in the road. I ran up to him and cuddled him with his head which was pouring blood and already pooled in the road and called for someone to call an ambulance.

“I didn’t know if he was alive or dead because he was lifeless for a little while.

“I kept talking to him but his injuries were obviously very severe.

“I really thought he may have passed away.”

The court heard the impact left Mr Clark with a shocking list of injuries, including an open fracture to his left elbow, and breaks to his pelvis, left leg, two ribs, left wrist and two bones at the base of his spine.

He also had deep vein thrombosis, deafness in his right ear for ten weeks and a greatly reduced short term memory loss.

He underwent skin grafts and blood tranfusions, and is still walking on crutches almost 18 months after the crash.

Mr Clark, a driving instructor, told the court he had met his wife on 8 February last year after a last minute lesson cancellation.

He said he had checked both ways before crossing Portland Road halfway, and then checked again before starting to cross the rest of the way.

“I remember being 90 per cent over the road then I was surprised I was knocked over. I came round about 15 minutes later and there were people standing around me. That’s all I remember.”

He added: “The sad thing is that the pupil I had afterwards had her driving test and I was meant to pick her up from Brighton Station.

“I felt awful I had let her down.”

In cross examination, Rezaye’s defence counsel Jack Jennett said to him he was in a hurry because he had parked on double yellow lines in Modena Road and his wife had their new puppy with them in the car.

But he countered: “I wasn’t in a rush because I was carrying two hot mochas, and you don’t want to carry those in a rush or you’ll hurt yourself.”

The court also heard from witnesses Philip Ashgrove, Nicholas Ho and Daniel O’Farrell, who all said they saw Mr Clark catapulted in the air.

Mr Ashgrove said: “I saw a car approaching from the east side and basically driving straight into the gentleman crossing the road.

“The gentleman hit the car and then was catapuled through the air, landing in the T junction with Modena Road.

“I was overwhelmed by what I had seen.”

Mr Ho, a veterinary surgeon who was driving two cars behind Rezaye’s Ford Focus, said Mr Clark had been more than halfway across the road when he was hit.

Mr O’Farrell, who was driving in the opposite direction and was parallel to Rezaye’s car when the crash happened, said Mr Clark had walked out from parked cars, and Rezaye wouldn’t have seen him.

He said that lots of local GPs and staff from the nearby pharmacy had come out to help Mr Clark.

Rezaye, of Craven Road, Brighton, was tested at the roadside and there was no evidence he was unfit to drive.

He denies the charge. The trial continues.