Banned driver flipped car containing four-year-old child during high-speed police chase

Police who had been pursuing a car at speeds of almost 100mph before it flipped over discovered a four-year-old child inside. Dramatic video of the incident has been released showing the desperate bid by banned driver Scott Tony Smith to escape the patrol vehicle. Smith, who was at the wheel of an MG ZT vehicle, also containing the four-year-old passenger and the boy’s mother, is seen weaving in and out of traffic on single carriageway roads, starting in a residential area of South Stanley, Durham.



It passed swiftly through nearby villages of The Middles and Craghead, and culminated with the horrifying finale in a rural area, near the hamlet of Blackhouse. During the near three-minute chase, the pursuing police car reached a speed of 97mph trying to keep pace with Smith’s MG, which at one stage broke a red light and mounted a kerb to avoid oncoming traffic in a restricted area where roadworks were taking place.



It reached a dramatic conclusion as the MG shot out from a t-junction, flew over a hedge opposite and somersaulted into a farm field, where it came to rest. Durham Crown Court was told that, amazingly, neither Smith, nor his two passengers, were badly hurt despite the apparently calamitous ending to the chase. Smith pleaded guilty to four charges arising from the incident, which took place shortly after 12.20pm on Wednesday October 29. He admitted dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, failing to stop for police, and a child cruelty charge.


YouTube link. Full three minute chase video. (Following interminably long commercial).

Tony Davis, for Smith, told the court that in the circumstances of the incident, by his admission to dangerous driving, the defendant has no defence to the child cruelty charge. “The child in the car was not in a secure child seat. He has no legal defence to it, and that’s why he’s pleaded ‘guilty’ to it.” Adjourning sentence to allow for preparation of a probation report, Judge Robert Adams told Smith: “In ordering the pre-sentence report, I’m giving you no promises as to the sentence. “All options will remain open to the court.” Smith, 23, of Stanley, who remains disqualified from driving, was bailed to return for sentence in the week beginning January 19.