A banned driver who was arrested after leading a police helicopter on a 16-minute pursuit through Bristol told them: "I was pretty f****d by the eye in the sky". Mitchell Parker was on an electric bike when police tried to pull him over.
After failing to stop he rode off, going on the wrong side of the road, mounting pavements and riding through a park. Though police vehicles struggled to pursue the nimble machine at up to 40mph, a police helicopter hovered over his every move and he couldn't shake it off.
In due course Parker handed himself in to a police motorcyclist. The 28-year-old father-of-three, of Broadstone Walk in Hartcliffe, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and driving while disqualified after the incident in April.
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Judge Michael Longman jailed him for 30 weeks and banned him from driving for two years from his release. The judge told him: "You chose to ride this vehicle when you were disqualified.
"You can't blame your choices and their outcome on others. Frankly, you need to start growing up a bit yourself. You've let your partner down. Your actions have had a direct impact on your children."
Charlotte Evans, prosecuting, told Bristol Crown Court (June 15, 2023) Parker was on an electric Sur Ron dirt bike, with a maximum speed of 40mph, when he failed to stop for police and embarked on a pursuit lasting 16 minutes. The area concerned included Blackthorn Road, Whitchurch Lane, Church Road, Saint Peters Rise, and Hartcliffe Way.
The court heard Parker rode on the wrong side of the road, mounted the pavement, used his mobile phone, failed to take care at junctions and had a near miss with a car. When interviewed he told police he had rode off because he wad disqualified and had thought police would back off.
Parker conceded his riding had been to a poor standard. He told officers: "I was pretty f****d by the eye in the sky."
Lucy Taylor, defending, told the court: "He was frank in interview. He had to be because of the eye in the sky."
Miss Taylor said her client had been laid off roofing work after breaking his ribs. She said her client had been trying not to get in further trouble, but had ended up with the prospect of custody.
Miss Taylor added that the bike was for her client's children. She said: "He wishes the court to know he was going much slower than 40mph."
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