A Newcastle grandad who threatened to cause rush hour carnage on the Coast Road reached speeds of more than 125mph despite police ramming him five times.
999 call and threats
It was around 8am on April 8 this year that police got a 999 call from Kenneth Davison, calling himself "Mad Kenny". The 61-year-old was behaving erratically and aggressively and asked to speak to the officer in command. He said he was going to cause carnage on the Coast Road and said it needed to be closed because he was going to drive at 160mph and "go bang". He said he would "end it all" and asked for the road to be closed so no one else got hurt.
Having provided the make and registration number of the car, several police cars were sent to the area to look for the Audi S3 he was driving. An officer spotted him near Battle Hill with his hazard lights on and weaving between lanes, causing other drivers to slow down to avoid him.
High-speed pursuit
The officer began pursuing him and made "tactical contact" but it was ineffective and he failed to stop and continued driving dangerously. He sped off at more than 100mph in a 50mph zone. He then began to brake heavily and his car started emitting large clouds of smoke, causing a danger to the pursuing police and other road users by affecting their visibility near the Silverlink. Police made tactical contact again but Davison made hand gestures at them through his window and drove off at speed estimated to be more than 125mph.
As he approached the Billy Mill roundabout, he forced his way through traffic waiting at a red light, damaging a car belonging to a doctor on their way to work at hospital. Police then made tactical contact for a third time but still Davison kept going. He made further hand gestures before driving past the police car, which was now disabled due to the heavy contact it had made. The officer was also left with pain to his hand and shoulder from the collisions.
Chase ends in crash
Davison started driving the opposite way on the Coast Road, where he was pursued by a second officer. He was doing 120mph before taking the slip road to Silverlink, mounting a grass verge and going past a queue of traffic. As he approached the turn off for the A19, a PC made tactical contact again but once more he drove off. A third officer then joined the pursuit, positioning his car to try to prevent him joining the A19.
Further tactical contact was made to try to stop him but this also failed. Davison started driving towards the entry slip road back onto the Coast Road and police again rammed him, pushing him up the embankment on the slip road. To the officer's surprise, he carried on driving, despite his vehicle by now being heavily damaged. The pursuit only came to an end when Davison crashed just after the slip road for Battle Hill and the car ended up wedged over a crash barrier.
The pursuit had lasted six minutes and the Audi was left with severe front end damage and the air bags had been set off. Police found an empty bottle of vodka in the car and Davison appeared under the influence of alcohol or drugs. There was a strong smell of alcohol and he was grinding his teeth and had white residue around his lips and appeared to be having hallucinations. He said he had taken cocaine.
When interviewed by police, he said he intended to end his life, believing he was going to be sacked by his employer. He said he wanted police to help him end his life.
Sentence and reaction
Davison, of Ellington Close, Newcastle, who has 17 previous convictions, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, failing to stop after an accident and failing to provide a specimen. He was sentenced to 14 months suspended for 18 months with 150 hours unpaid work, an alcohol abstinence monitoring requirement for 120 days and was banned from driving for 30 months.
Judge Penny Moreland said he had foiled a number of attempts to prevent him carrying out his threat to cause carnage by the level of dangerous driving he exhibited. The judge said he had driven at "enormous speed" and added: "This was 8am at a time when the Coast Road was busy with people driving to work."
"A number of people must have been frightened of you and inconvenienced by what you did. You had an utter disregard for the risk of danger to others."
Jennifer Coxon, defending, said Davison has children and grandchildren and added: "It was an awful incident of dangerous driving and he is lucky he didn't hurt somebody else or himself." The court heard he had been suffering from an "adjustment disorder" due to not coping with things at work.
