Stinger car deployed in prolonged police chase

Friday 21 September 2018

A man has been sentenced to 140 hours of community service for dangerous driving, which at one point was so bad and prolonged Guernsey Police thought they may have to use their stinger.

Kieran Ringland, 46, pleaded guilty to three charges in Guernsey Magistrate Court this week. The offences all related to one prolonged police chase from Grand Fort Road to Sausmarez Road and encompassed dangerous driving, failing to stop and failing to report an accident.

Ringland was accompanied by a responsible adult when he appeared before the Magistrate with the court hearing details of the incident that occurred at around 23:00 on Friday 13 July 2018.

The prosecution outlined that a police officer had noticed a white van being driven by the defendant at Grand Fort Road towards the Capelles filter with no lights on. The officer drove his vehicle to catch up with the van and activated his blue lights and siren indicating to the driver to stop.

The defendant did not stop and instead continued to drive, weaving erratically whilst the officer pursued him continually driving at a speed of between 25 and 35mph. Ringland continued driving even after having a glancing collision with a road boundary and continued to Camp du Roi, using the wrong side of the road at the junction with Rue Sauvage.

Further glancing collisions were made and the officer continued with his sirens and blue lights indicating to the defendant to stop, Ringland narrowly avoided a cyclist and then as he continued along made a further glancing collision near Shiloh church.

At this stage he was continuing to drive in the middle of the road and when a head on collision was only narrowly averted by the actions of the other driver, the officer asked for officers with a stinger to be deployed as they headed towards Saumarez Park.

A stinger is a spike strip that the police use in emergency cases to try to stop vehicles safely (pictured above).

Prior to this evasive action the defendant struck a low wall bank at Rue Cohu, which resulted in the vehicle being on two wheels for a time. He then hit an earth bank before finally stopping and pulling over opposite the old Hotel De Beauvoir site.

There was a struggle when Ringland was arrested and it was reported he said: "I've never been chased by the police before."

Pictured: File image.

The prosecution handed the judge photos of the damaged caused during Ringland's journey.

In his defence the court heard that Ringland was a vunerable adult who would struggle with prison life and whilst it was no defence he had panicked when he saw the blue lights.

In sentencing Judge Graeme McKerrell said that he had taken into account all the mitigation and the fact that he was a vulnerable adult with social health issues, although he further commented that the incident may not have occurred had this not been the case.

He said: "This may not have been a high speed chase but it was prolonged and put a number of people at risk." 

He further addressed Ringland on the seriousness of the incident and his failure to stop for the police, and said hitting a wall would normally be dealt with by a prison sentence. The judge stated that he had narrowly avoided prison and instead gave Ringland community service as a reminder of the seriousness of the offence and how close he was to going to prison. 

He was sentenced to a total of 140 hours community service as a direct alternative to 6 months in prison and banned from driving for three years.