By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
A SOUTH East Skids driver whose club-registered Commodore did circular donuts next to another drifting car and a spectator inside an illegal street skid bowl was put on an 18-month community corrections order.
Nicholas Sturzaker, 23, of Narre Warren South, pleaded guilty to two charges of reckless conduct endangering serious injury at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 19 July.
Like 30-plus other offenders captured by Operation Regarder, Sturzaker’s driving was captured in hidden video footage at various South East Skids meets at an industrial estate in Licola Crescent, Dandenong South.
In footage shown to the court, Sturzaker’s white VL Commodore spun close to the crowd of up to 400 ringing the skid bowl after midnight on 8 December.
Within the copious tyre-smoke, an unknown male approached within a metre of the car to film the spectacle.
At the same location on 30 December, Sturzaker’s car followed another car into the skid bowl, and performed burnouts and donuts in unison for about a minute.
He re-entered the bowl a second time and dropped a burnout thick with smoke for about a minute while people were attending a damaged vehicle in the bowl.
In the process, his rear tyres blew and sparks flew into the crowd, the court was told.
He drove back into the bowl minutes later, and performed another burnout.
Surveillance footage of the ‘skids’ meet on 9 December:
Police intercepted Sturzaker soon after, observing tyre rubber sprayed onto the car’s rear guards, two popped tyres in the boot as well as equipment for changing tyres in the back seat.
Sturzaker told the court he had completed a court-ordered safe-driving program after being found guilty of previous dangerous driving and loss of traction offences in 2013 and 2014.
Defence lawyer Nick Power said Sturzaker, who was diagnosed with ADHD and recently used ice, had been “incredibly” affected by the death of a close friend in a car crash.
Unlike many other Operation Regarder offenders, Sturzaker’s car was not forfeited and crushed.
Sturzaker had been unable to get the car to police due to it being undriveable.
In the meantime, it had been towed away by a local council and was no longer in Sturzaker’s possession, Mr Power said.
The lawyer conceded Sturzaker was “at risk” of being jailed due to his priors.
Magistrate Jack Vandersteen said Sturzaker endangered people’s safety and lives, but avoided jail due to his young age, early guilty plea and his new-found stability at work and home.
“Hopefully, as you get older, you start to engage your brain before you engage another part of your body.”
Sturzaker was convicted and ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work as part of his community-based sentence.
He was disqualified from driving for 12 months – on top of a current demerit-point suspension until April.
“He needs to grow up and be off the road a significant period,” Mr Vandersteen said.
After the hearing, Sturzaker posted on his Facebook page news footage of his case, and added hashtags “STURZYISFREE“ and “STURZYDROPTHECLUTCH“.
Sturzaker next appears in Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on a driving-while-suspended charge on 1 August.
Police footage from 30 December on ‘skids’ hoons:
