By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A disqualified driver from Cranbourne has pleaded guilty to recklessly driving through a red light, crashing into two cars and causing a police officer to fall from the rear of her car.
Damla Ozcelik was pulled over by police after being detected speeding at 96 km/h in a 60 km/h zone outside Dandenong High School on Princes Highway, Dandenong on 23 January, a court heard.
Ozcelik’s VW Passat stopped near the corner of Lonsdale Street and Foster Street, with a police car parked behind her.
As a police officer approached, Ozcelik heavily revved the engine and lurched forward, ramming a Honda Jazz and a Holden Barina.
Passengers in her car shouted that “It’s the police, f***ing go.”
The police member ordered her to stop. Fearing she would reverse onto him in traffic, he jumped onto the back of the car.
Ozcelik’s vehicle revved, rising in the air as it continued to drive into the rammed vehicles.
The police member fell from the car, whose wheels continued to spin just centimetres from the head of one of the victim drivers, the court heard.
The Passat crashed to ground, pulling a large amount of debris from another car. It pushed between cars in the two lanes, damaging both and accelerating through a red light, police told the court.
Other drivers were said to have been “traumatised” by the incident.
In a police interview, a “regretful” Ozcelik described her driving as reckless, dangerous and stupid, but refused to identify her passengers.
Among Ozcelik’s five charges was breaching a community corrections order at the time.
She had been sentenced to the CCO in July 2018 for trafficking methamphetamine.
A defence lawyer told the court that the mother of two had been engaging in drug treatment on the order, though not turning up for other appointments.
Her serious anxiety issues as a victim of trauma were “paramount” in this case, the lawyer said.
She had stopped the car. Then she became scared after the police officer banged on the car, and overwhelmed by her friends’ yelled exhortations, the lawyer argued.
Magistrate Tara Hartnett noted the disqualified driver’s “appalling” history including dangerous driving, drug-driving, failing to stop for police, and driving dangerously or negligently while pursued by police.
“There’s a pattern of behaviour that your client has shown that’s consistent with her prior history.
“She shouldn’t have been driving.”
As a result, the sentencing priority was shifting from Ozcelik’s rehabilitation to the protection of the community, Ms Hartnett said.
Ozcelik was disqualified from driving for two years.
She was bailed for further sentencing at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 9 October.
