Not Such A Bright Spark
The Sunday Age
Sunday March 24, 2002
Apprentice electrician Mark James Hunter admits he has had brighter ideas than the one he had behind the wheel of his car on October 3 last year.
The impatient teenager got stuck behind a blue Commodore station wagon carrying "three guys in suits" on a single-lane road outside Sunbury. Hunter, 19, keen to catch up with a workmate, tried just about everything to get the wagon to go faster or get out of the way.
A court heard last week that Hunter moved his car back and forth behind the vehicle on Vineyard Road, edged dangerously close to it and gesticulated with his hands.
When, finally, he drew level with the wagon, an irritated Hunter waved angrily at the occupants and tapped his forehead with his right hand before speeding off.
To Hunter's everlasting regret, Melbourne Magistrates Court was told, the targets of his fast-lane frustration happened to be three police officers in an unmarked vehicle.
Police prosecutor Senior Constable Steve Coombs said his colleagues checked Hunter's speed at 35 kmh over the limit before intercepting him.
"Now who's knocking on the head?" asked magistrate Noel Purcell.
Defence lawyer Paul Horvath explained that when the police pursued Hunter, his client feared they were just three angry men ``who meant him some harm".
"The worst decision I've ever made," Hunter, now 20, told The Sunday Age outside court. "They were just three guys in suits. The last thing I expected was that they'd be police. I know I've done the wrong thing, but when they took off after me I reckoned I was going to get bashed.
"They started chasing me, so I sped off, did a U-turn in the middle of the road, but then they put the blue light on top of their roof."
Hunter pleaded guilty to careless driving and speeding. He was fined $700 and lost his licence for two months.
© 2002 The Sunday Age