A Birmingham man has narrowly avoided jail after leading police on a pointless high-speed chase at triple the speed limit.
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Zak Palmer, 25, who had a child in the car at the time, forgot he had passed his test just weeks before.
Yup, the guy was fully licensed and insured to drive the Volkswagen Golf and hadn’t been drinking or taking drugs. He literally just saw a police car and pooped his pants for no reason.
According to Metro, Palmer clocked speeds of 90mph and came ‘within inches’ of smashing into other cars after speeding over give-way markings and driving the wrong way around a roundabout.
When he was finally stopped and arrested in Sheldon, he said:
I know, I know, I’ve just come off a ban bro.
Birmingham Crown Court on Friday heard he ‘panicked’ upon seeing police, as he had been recently released from prison on licence.
Defending, Anthony Bell said:
The irony is he had passed his test a few weeks shortly before this incident. It’s forgetting that fact and reacting in the way he had done previously when being followed by police that led him to drive in this way.
He panicked when he saw the police and reverted in that moment to the man who shouldn’t have been driving and had no licence.
He acknowledges it was very stupid and he put at risk all the hard work he has done since his release from prison.
Palmer was jailed for two years in 2019 for assisting an offender; he supplied murderer James Atherley with cash and sim cards as he went on the run.
Prosecutor Richard Davenport said:
He sped off down residential streets at speeds of up to 90mph, persisting even after police rammed him, before pulling over after three minutes.
Officers pulled up. The defendant got out with his hands raised. There was a boy in the passenger seat. The defendant remarked “I know, I know, I’ve just come off a ban bro”.
In the end, the judge spared Palmer another stint in jail because of his efforts at turning his life around. Instead he was give a 12 month sentence suspended for 21 months, banned from driving for two years, and must complete 20 days’ rehabilitation activity and stick to a four-month curfew between 10pm and 6am.
Which is annoying, but it’s a hell of a lot better than going back to prison over something so dumb. What I don’t get is how Palmer apparently wasn’t even stoned at the end of it all? I mean he literally looks like he just woke from a coma in that mug shot. Is he really so thick that he forgot he had a driver’s license? Dumbass of the year contender for sure. No way his buddies are ever going to let him live that one down.
To watch a man throw a damn AXE through a motorist’s windshield during a wild road rage incident, click HERE.
