E-scooter driver who left vet with a fractured skull after accident spared jail | UK News

The e-scooter driver who jumped a red light, hit a veterinarian and fractured his skull has been spared prison.

Joseph Pedelty, 34, who was previously banned from the roads for drunk driving, was caught on dashcam footage while veterinary surgeon Raquel Delgado-Calos was lying on the road.

The city’s magistrates’ court was told the red light was ‘very clearly visible’. Ms Delgado-Calo described feeling like she had been ‘hit by a bus’ when Pedelty hit her at high speed.

He was left permanently scarred after suffering a fractured skull as well as deep cuts to his head and nose following the collision in Portsmouth on January 14 this year.

Ms Delgado-Calo said in a statement: ‘We were walking and we were both pulling suitcases.

‘We approached a pedestrian crossing, just as we arrived the light was turning red and a car was stopped.

‘I turned right and took a step and felt a huge impact. What I felt right now was that it felt like a heavy slap in the face.

‘I was on the road thinking I had been hit by a bus. I lifted my arms and legs to make sure I could move. I could feel blood running down my face and what felt like there was flesh between my teeth.

‘Only then did I realize that I had had an accident. ‘I was told that a man riding an e-scooter hit me and the man got back on the scooter and drove off.’

Pedelty, of Waterlooville, was banned from the roads for 18 months and given a community sentence of the same length after pleading guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

The court heard he went for a scooter ride to ‘clear his head’.

Roni Pittman, defending, said that she contacted the police after the media called for the e-scooter driver to be found.

‘He was keen to put himself forward,’ he said, adding: ‘He mistakenly did not see the seriousness of the incident at the time.

‘When the media appeal was issued they were shocked and appalled by the injuries this woman suffered. ‘He accepts what he did and this incident.’

However, speaking through the footage, prosecutor Giles Fletcher said: ‘The defendant does not stop while on the scooter. He gets into a vehicle without insurance.

‘It didn’t match the very clearly visible red light. He was seriously injured when he failed to stop at the scene. It disappears.

‘You can see the surprise of the victim’s partner.’

Judges chairman Ryan Rutlidge criticized Pedelty for not stopping to check on his victim’s welfare.