A police officer who severely injured a pensioner after crashing into him on wintry country roads had been found guilty of careless driving.
Jospeh Leghorn had to spend a week in hospital recovering from multiple injuries after sergeant Allan Masson’s police car crashed into him on March 21, 2013.
Mr Leghorn, 69, was left with two missing toes, broken bones and fractured ribs as well as having to have a titanium rod inserted into his leg.
Masson had been on trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court accused of seriously injuring the pedestrian by driving dangerously on the ice covered unclassified road which leads from Chapel of Garioch to Newton of Balquhain.
However this morning Sheriff William Taylor found the Crown had not proved the driving had been dangerous and convicted him of a lesser charge of careless driving.
He told the sergeant that as witnesses had observed him driving at speeds which were too fast for the road conditions he found him guilty of driving carelessly that day.
However he said if he were asked to provide a “sliding scale” of offences committed under the act this was at the “lower” end.
He fined Masson £500 and put three penalty points on his licence.
The court previously heard from witnesses throughout the trial who had been driving along the same road earlier that morning. All of them claimed the road was extremely icy and they were unable to drive any faster than around 20mph.
One Crown witness, Ian McDonald told the court that he had stopped his tractor on the road at the bottom of the hill where, because of the conditions, several cars had crashed into a stone wall.
He said he got out the vehicle to help Mr Leghorn, who had fallen on the ice and bumped his head, when he saw the police car coming down the hill.
Fiscal depute Felicity Merson asked the 30-year-old: “Did he get back to his feet?”
Mr McDonald replied: “Not until I saw the police car coming down the hill and then shouted to everyone to get off the road.
“I just knew that he was going too fast. I don’t know why, he just appeared to be going really quickly.
“The car came sliding down the hill, struck the gentleman, carried him a short distance and hit the wall with the man still on the front of the car.
“The car then bounced to the right, the gentleman fell off the bonnet to the left and was left lying on the road.”
Mr McDonald said the police officer got straight out of the car when it stopped and went to help the man on the ground. He said the driver appeared shaken but concentrated on assisting the man and calling for help.
Mr McDonald said: “He was trying to get a response from him, asking him if he was okay. He seemed to be struggling to breathe and was in some distress with some blood coming out of his ear.”
The farm worker told the court that Mr Leghorn had been rubbing his head after his initial fall but had “seemed okay”.
He added: “But after the collision, I thought he was going to die. I thought I had seen someone die.”
Mr Leghorn also gave evidence during the trial and told the court how he could not remember anything about the accident until he woke up later in hospital.
When asked by Mrs Merson if he had fully recovered from his injuries he said: “I do not think you ever get back to full health. I am amazingly well considering what happened.”
The court heard that as a result of the crash the police were called and road traffic scene examiners were sent out as they believed Mr Leghorn’s injuries could be fatal.
The 43-year-old officer, who had been based in Huntly at the time, had been on his way to Aberdeen to attend at the Justice of the Peace Court when the crash occurred.