Jail for runaway driver who left Basford teenager for dead

Kwame McKenzie was driving at more than twice the speed limit in the moments leading up to the crash – hitting speeds of more than 70mph after he failed to stop for police.

Danae Mills-Beresford, who was 15 at the time of the incident, was knocked into the air and flung down the road by McKenzie as he rampaged through the streets.

Danae, now 16, has been left with such serious injuries that she will never regain any feeling in one of her feet.

McKenzie was driving at more than twice the speed limit in the moments leading up to the crash – hitting speeds of more than 70mph after he failed to stop for police. At one point during the pursuit he mounted a pavement and travelled along at considerable speed before re-joining the road.

He had been spotted driving erratically along the A610 Nuthall Road on the evening of October 29, 2019 and was pursued for more than two miles by police.

As McKenzie travelled through the junction of Broxtowe Lane and Stockhill Lane he hit the victim at high speed – throwing her some 16 metres along the road.

Officers believe he was travelling at 69mph at the time of the collision.

McKenzie then continued driving his heavily damaged, untaxed Vauxhall Astra in a desperate bid to get way.

After travelling more than a mile from the scene he finally lost control of his vehicle in Bell’s Lane and collided with a tree.

He then fled the vehicle on foot, clambering over a wall and a fence before fleeing the scene.

However, whilst he was running away he dropped his jacket and mobile phone – items that helped detectives prove beyond doubt that he was driving at the time of the collision.

McKenzie, 22, of Tunstall Drive, Basford, handed himself into police four days later after attempts had been made by police to arrest him.

He pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving and failing to stop at the scene of a road traffic collision.

Appearing at Nottingham Crown Court, he was jailed for two years and disqualified from driving for three years.

Case investigator Louise Melbourne, of Nottinghamshire Police’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: “This was an absolutely appalling and inexcusable display of driving from a young man who showed absolutely no concern for his teenage victim.

"For all he knew she could very well have been lying dead in the road as he continued his desperate but ultimately ill-fated bid to avoid capture.

“His victim, a young woman with her whole life ahead of her, could very well have been killed and must now live not only with the long-term effects of her injuries, but also with the ongoing emotional trauma of what happened on that evening.

"I want to thank her and her family for their courage and support throughout the investigation. I would also like to thank the members of the public who assisted on the night of the collision, and with the investigation.”