Police three-point-turn: guilty verdict

A former police officer who did a three-point-turn on a bend in the Upper Buller Gorge has today been found guilty of two counts of dangerous driving causing injury.

Anthony Dale Bridgman had been on trial in the Nelson District Court having denied the counts, which were laid following a crash on State Highway 6 on December 1, 2007.

Bridgman, who was a Blenheim-based highway patrol sergeant, retired last December after 33 years of service.

The jury of eight women and four men took just under an hour to deliver the verdicts.

Judge Tony Zohrab this morning summed up the case for the jury, and urged them to put aside any sympathy they felt for the accused or the seriously injured motorcyclists.

He said the Crown's case had been that Bridgman clocked a motorcyclist travelling at 125kmh towards Westport.

Bridgman decided to pursue the motorcyclist and started doing a three-point-turn, which was when the collision happened.

The crown's case had been that it was dangerous to do a three point turn on that section of road, and Bridgman's actions had presented a real risk to the public.

Judge Zohrab said the defence case had been that the two motorcyclists were speeding and so unable to stop when they saw the patrol car. They would not have crashed into the car if they had been abiding by the law.

Judge Zohrab remanded Bridgman to May 26 for sentence.

- © Fairfax NZ News