"Man jailed after nearly mowing down three children trying to evade police"

[dutchman]

The 22-year-old was heading to the music festival with cannabis in his pockets but panicked when he saw police



A young driver panicked when he saw the police because he had drugs he was taking to Coventry’s Godiva Festival – and ended up speeding across a grassed area where children were playing.

And three youngsters would have been hit by the car Callum Kinzett was driving if they had not jumped out of the way, a judge at Warwick Crown Court has heard.

Kinzett, 22, of Coombe Park Road, Binley, Coventry, was jailed for 12 months after pleading guilty to dangerous driving and possessing cannabis.

Prosecutor Matthew Cullen said that at 2.15pm on July 7, 2019, two police officers in a marked car saw a Vauxhall Astra driven by Kinzett in East Street, Hillfields.

He was talking to someone in the street, and when that person pointed out the police car, he sped away, leading to a short chase before he stopped after throwing six bags of cannabis out of the car window.

The police pulled up behind him, and when one officer got out to speak to him there was an altercation before Kinzett sped off again, with his wheels spinning.

Kinzett drove into a dead end in Winchester Street, and instead of stopping, he drove through a gap between two wooden bollards onto a grassed area.

The officer was not able to follow, but he saw three young children who were playing near a tree having to jump out of the way to avoid being hit by the speeding Astra.

Kinzett then drove off the grassed area and across a pavement and made good his escape.

But the officer had recognised him and Kinzett, who had was subject to a community order at the time for possessing an offensive weapon, handed himself in the following month.

Jailing Kinzett, Judge Barry Berlin told him: “This was on Sunday at 2.15pm on a July afternoon, pre-Covid.

“You threw six bags of cannabis out of the car and you sped off. You went off-road onto a grassy area at the end of Winchester Street.

“The officer said ‘he has accelerated so hard that his wheels are spinning and has driven across the grass and almost collided with three children who had to jump out of the way'.

“If they had not, the Astra would almost definitely have hit them. Anybody who is driving a car in those circumstances on a grassed area where members of the public were present at 2.15pm is committing a serious offence.

“I recognise your age and that you have had certain problems at home, and I take into account the issues that have been raised.

“But appropriate punishment in this sort of case, bearing in mind the danger you presented to the public, can only be met by immediate custody.”