A DRIVER was allegedly high on cocaine and alcohol and banned from the roads when he crashed a car and seriously injured a passenger, a York jury heard today.
The Suzuki, with three young people inside it, hit parked cars on Scarcroft Road in South Bank, York, before going at speed round a corner and turning completely over before landing on its wheels, said Reginald Bosomworth, prosecuting.
Back-seat passenger Grace Watts was trapped with serious internal injuries and had to be cut from the wreckage after the accident, in October 2013.
Residents came to help and one allegedly saw a bloodstained man slide from the driver's seat across to the front passenger door.
The barrister alleged that man was John Paul Harris, 35, that he was banned from driving and that he told a second resident: "I am the driver."
When he heard emergency vehicles approaching, Harris ran off, hitting a third resident as he did so.
The scene after the accident
Harris was arrested shortly afterwards, muddy and bloodstained and staggering in a drunken state on Knavesmire, where he then hit a police officer, alleged Mr Bosomworth.
Harris, 35, formerly of Imperial Court, Clifton, denies causing serious injury by dangerous driving and driving whilst disqualified. His trial began today. He has pleaded guilty to assaulting the third bystander and the police officer. He claims he was a passenger, not the driver.
Mr Bosomworth said: "The defendant says yes, he was in the car. He would have to say that - his DNA was found on the air bag . "
Earlier the barrister had alleged: "The defendant was the driver of that car. He was in no fit condition to drive."
The crash happened in Scarcroft Road in October 2013
Harris, according to the prosecution, was part of a group of people who drank alcohol and took cocaine at a house before deciding to go into town by car.
A prosecution witness is expected to say she saw Harris with the car keys as he and two other people left to get into the Suzuki.
Mr Bosomworth said the defence accept that the driving was dangerous and that Miss Watts suffered a serious injury.
"The only issue you have to try is who was the driver," he told the jury at York Crown Court.
The trial continues.
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