A POLICE special constable who lost his leg when he was hit by a careless driver with defective tyres has been forced to resign.
Good Samaritan and off-duty Droitwich special constable Benjamin Perry pulled over on the M42 to help another driver following an accident when Khadeja Perwez ploughed into him.
I’ve just been going through everyone’s replies with regards to my resignation. I’m blown away with the support, it is truly appreciated.
— Ben. (@benperry_2001) February 5, 2022
The 25-year-old, of Avon Close, Worcester, admitted careless driving and driving with defective tyres at Worcester Crown Court in March 2019 following the crash on the M42 near Bromsgrove on March 9, 2018.
It is with a very heavy heart that I have resigned from West Mercia Police as a Special Constable.
— Ben. (@benperry_2001) February 4, 2022
I have been trying my best for the past 4 years to become operational again and have just been passed from pillar to post and messed around.
Mr Perry wrote on Twitter: "It is with a very heavy heart that I have resigned from West Mercia Police as a Special Constable.
"I have been trying my best for the past 4 years to become operational again and have just been passed from pillar to post and messed around."
He also wrote that he was overwhelmed with the support he received, including from colleagues at West Mercia Police.
Mr Perry wrote: "I’ve just been going through everyone’s replies with regards to my resignation. I’m blown away with the support, it is truly appreciated."
Perwez had been driving at excessive speed for the wet road conditions - around 70mph - despite illuminated warnings that drivers should reduce their speed to 50mph.
I must make it absolutely clear that @WMerciaPolice have been incredibly supportive both before and after the crash and I don’t have a bad word to say about them. My decision to resign is influenced by one person and not the organisation.
— Ben. (@benperry_2001) February 5, 2022
The driver of an Audi TT had already crashed, aquaplaning into the central reservation and ended up facing the wrong way in the fast lane before driving onto the hard shoulder.
Mr Perry, a qualified lighting engineer, special constable and police community support officer, stopped to help, putting on a fluorescent yellow jacket and placing an orange flashing beacon on the roof of his Ford Focus.
He was standing by the boot when he was struck by Perwez who aquaplaned into him in her BMW.
Mr Perry said in a victim impact statement: “I looked down and saw that my leg had gone and it was just a fleshy mess.”
He described screaming in pain and his vision beginning to blur but remembered seeing the still flashing beacon hanging off his car roof.
Another driver stopped and applied a tourniquet to his leg. Mr Perry also suffered fractures to the left ankle of his other leg, a fractured spine and internal trauma to his chest and lungs.
What remained of his right leg was amputated below the knee and he had to have several debridement operations to shorten the stump. He spent 23 weeks in hospital, including the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham and the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch and is permanently disabled. He suffers anxiety, depression and PTSD.
Judge Jim Tindal said: “It just illustrates how easy it is for even the best of people to make the worst of mistakes.”
The judge described the road conditions as ‘awful’ but said Perwez had been ‘very careless indeed’ and her tyres were not in the condition they should have been.
Judge Tindal said he could not impose any other punishment than a fine and a disqualification because there was as yet no offence of causing serious injury by careless driving, arguing that it was ‘beyond’ him why Parliament had not created one.
He fined her £1,000 from her £17,000 savings and banned her from driving for nine months. She will not have to complete an extended driving retest.
A not guilty verdict was entered on a charge of causing serious injury by dangerous driving following discussions between prosecution and defence. Perwez had denied this offence.
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