Police officer faces jail for dangerous driving on a 999 call which left boy, 15, paralysed
21.04.2023 - 11:35
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A police officer is facing a possible jail sentence after a jury convicted her of causing serious injury to a boy of 15 while driving dangerously on a 999 call.
PC Sarah De Meulemeester, 26, topped 61mph on 30mph limit roads and went the wrong way round a traffic island en route to an emergency in Stockport on Boxing Day, 2020.
Her patrol car crashed into Khia Whitehead, 15, on Garners Lane in Adswood, Stockport, leaving him catastrophic brain injuries.
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Today a jury found PC De Meulemeester guilty of causing serious injury by dangerous driving. The officer, of Mill Court, Chinley, Derbyshire, had admitted her driving was careless but denied it was dangerous.
They returned their verdicts after just two hours and 30 minutes of deliberations following a trial at Liverpool Crown Court.
Members of Whitehead family said 'yes' in the public gallery as the foreman of the jury delivered the jury's verdict. Others wept and hugged each other. The defendant, standing in the dock, showed no reaction.
PC De Meulemeester was released on bail pending her sentencing hearing next month but Judge David Aubrey KC warned her 'all options' remained open to him, including a jail sentence.
Adjourning the sentencing until May 19, Judge Aubrey told the defendant: "You have been granted bail in the intervening period. However, all options including immediate custody remain open to the court and in the forefront of my mind has to be in accordance with legal principles such as sentencing notwithstanding your impeccable character that I will consider matters on May 19."
The judge also handed the PC an interim driving disqualification until the sentencing hearing, and he thanked