Hull woman dragged police officer along road as she drove after crash confrontation

A woman from Hull has been banned from driving after dragging a police officer along the road as he confronted her about an earlier accident.

Louise Hemmings, aged 39, had crashed her car into a parked vehicle and then driven off in a panic.

Hull Crown Court heard that an off-duty police inspector was a neighbour of the man whose car was hit and he went outside to investigate.

He saw the car travelling up Marlborough Avenue in Hornsea and decided that he was going to try to stop the car.

He stood in the middle of the road and shouted that he was an off-duty police officer.

Hull Crown Court was told that Hemmings stopped her car and he approached and spoke to her and asked her to get out.

"She swore at him," said prosecutor Mr Benjamin Donnell. "He attempted to take the keys out of the defendant's ignition. He heard her engine rev and she drove off, dragging him along the road, causing bruising and scratches to his elbow and knees."

Earlier that evening Hemmings had crashed her Vauxhall Meriva into the parked Citroen DS in Southgate, Hornsea at 11.15pm.

Her car was damaged at the front. The bonnet was damaged and the bumper was left hanging off. The incident was caught on CCTV.

"Her standard of driving that evening fell far below that which was expected of a competent and careful driver," said Mr Donnell. "The condition of the defendant's vehicle was dangerous to drive and she decided to drive the vehicle onwards and not pull over. "

The mother of the owner of the damaged car tried to stop her but Hemmings drove towards her.

The woman told the court: "My aim was to get the registration number. Adrenaline kicked in and, naively, I stood in the road. As the car came towards me, I was sure it wasn't going to stop. I leapt on to the pavement. "

She said she saw the off-duty officer "fall to the floor and the car continued to drive towards me". She added: "All I saw him doing was opening the car door. The car was still moving and he was running alongside the car."

Hemmings told the court during her defence that a cat ran out into the road before the crash and she did not have time to brake and swerved.

She claimed: "I panicked. I was so scared. I was frightened. I didn't know whose car I had crashed into or who was coming out to me."

"As far as I was concerned, that car was okay to drive," she added. "I just needed to stop and have a think about what I had just done and what am I going to do?"

Hemmings claimed that she went back to try to find a car that had been damaged and that this was when she saw the off-duty police officer.

"I originally thought that there was something wrong with him," she claimed.

"I stopped my car and wound my window down. He came running towards my car. He was screaming and shouting. He put his arm in my car while the window was down and opened the door.

"He shouldn't have been doing what he was doing."

She added: "I was just trying to get away from the scene because I didn't want to get into trouble."

She had no previous convictions and had a clean driving record.

Hemmings, 39, of the Holderness Road area of east Hull, denied two offences of dangerous driving on October 29, 2022, but she was convicted by a jury after a trial.

Recorder Richard Wright KC told Hemmings: "I reject completely your suggestion that an animal had run out into the road, causing you to lose control. My strong suspicion is that you had been drinking alcohol that evening and that explained your decision to drive off from the scene, but I can't be sure of that."

Hemmings was given 15 days' rehabilitation.

She was banned from driving for two years and will have to pass an extended retest before she can drive legally again.

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