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Kelly Hodel / Stuff
Sudden Impact: The consequences of texting while driving were devastating for 27-year-old Michael Wayne Eagle, but far more devastating for the driver of the truck he crashed into, south of Hamilton.
Michael Eagle received a reprimand from a police officer who saw him texting while driving. It was a growl that had no effect.
Just 11 days later, on the morning of November 21, 2018, the 27-year-old was busy sending and receiving messages on his cell phone as he drove his work truck down State Highway 1, south of Hamilton.
He crossed the center line. In another van, 27-year-old Matthew Kennedy, who was also on his way to work, was coming the other way.
Kennedy saw Eagle’s truck cross his path, too late to avoid the devastating head-on collision.
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* The crash driver was texting when he crossed the center line on State Highway 1 in Waikato
* Don’t text and drive
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Text data from Eagle’s phone showed that a text message was sent at 6.38am and that his phone received a text message at 6.39am
The first call to emergency services was made a minute later.
The impact left Eagle horribly injured and his leg had to be amputated just below the knee. According to lawyer Norman Te Kanawa-Gwynne, he suffers from sepsis and may soon lose his knee as well.
But that was nothing compared to what the crushing did to Kennedy and consequently his family: brain hemorrhage and severe head trauma, lacerated scalp, fractured nasal bone, vertebrae and many other bones.
Stuff
Sending text messages to motorist Michael Wayne Eagle, pictured outside Hamilton District Court during a recess in sentencing.
Surgeons at Waikato Hospital operated on him for 12 hours desperately trying to save his life. For weeks, he was on the brink of death while in an induced coma. His parents were told to prepare for the worst.
Death was somehow averted, but Kennedy will likely never make a full recovery. In a victim impact read in court by his father, Andrew Kennedy, he detailed how for many months afterward his son was unable to recognize him or his wife.
The once carefree and outgoing 106-kilogram forward had dropped to 80 kilograms in weight and was unable to recall much of his previous life.
His mother was now his full-time caregiver. The stress of the accident and its aftermath had left his father with post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Life has changed forever in a moment. That moment was completely avoidable. “
Eagle was charged with dangerous driving causing injury and was sentenced to six months of home detention on Thursday.
Judge Noel Cocurullo also barred him from driving for two years and six months, and ordered him to pay his victim $ 10,000 in reparation for emotional damages.
In the victim’s statement, Kennedy spoke of one of the first people on the scene who treated him in the moments after the accident, an act of kindness that could save lives, and who since then has not been identified or found.
In court, Eagle read an apology he had written to his victims.
“I’m not looking for forgiveness. I can’t imagine the pain and fear you’ve been going through. “
He had sought a restorative justice meeting with the Kennedy family, but this was something they were unwilling to entertain.
Te Kanawa-Gwynne sought a starting point for his client’s 18-month prison sentence, saying the crime was on the cusp between dangerous driving and careless driving.
Prosecutor Anton Heyns, who was seeking a starting point of two and a half years, disagreed with the defense attorney’s argument.
“Texting is not careless driving. It is dangerous. The radio station is not changing. “
Judge Cocurullo agreed and took a starting point of 26 months in jail.
“It’s exactly the same as putting your foot more on the gas.
“What you thought was quite innocuous has resulted in the alteration of many lives forever, including yours.”
