Moment driver ploughs into pedestrian sending him catapulting 20ft into the air before landing face-first in garden
THIS is the shocking moment a driver hits a pedestrian and sends him catapulting 20ft into the air.
Horrifying CCTV footage shows Jack Kent being struck by a speeding VW Golf as he stands in the street.
The impact sent him cartwheeling through the air.
He clears a brick wall before landing face-first in the front garden of a house in Weymouth, Dorset.
My cheekbones and nose were completely shattered, they had to rebuild it, my whole nose is metal now and they had to wire my jaw together
Jack Kent
As he lay unconscious driver Leon Fowler got out and attacked a friend Jack had been with.
Jack, 26, was rushed to hospital and spent two weeks in intensive care with a brain injury.
He was put in an induced coma and underwent major reconstructive surgery on fractures to his face and left arm.
Doctors later told him they didn’t think he would pull through.
He is still recovering from his injuries four months on and attended Bournemouth Crown Court to see Fowler, 25, sent to jail for nine years for causing GBH with intent and dangerous driving.
The video footage that was captured on a road sweeper lorry’s camera was played to a stunned court room.
Jack, who works as a builder and is a father, said: “I have no memory of it, it all happened so quickly. Watching the footage was horrible, when I saw it I just thought ‘wow, I’m lucky to be alive’.
“I don’t remember it, but when I flew through the air I did flips and my face hit the wall before I landed in the garden. I was lying there choking on my own blood and it looked like I was hit in the face with a shovel, my nose was flattened.
“My cheekbones and nose were completely shattered, they had to rebuild it, my whole nose is metal now and they had to wire my jaw together.
“They said at the hospital that they didn’t think I was going to wake up and if I did, I’d be a vegetable.
“I think I woke up for my daughter, I had a reason to live. I do feel like there was someone looking out for me. You don’t get hit by a car at that speed and survive it.
“I shouldn’t be up and walking around, I don’t know how I didn’t have any leg injuries.
“I have tried to put it behind me, but it’s something that’s going to be with me for the rest of my life. I was glad to be in court and see justice be done but it was tough for my mum to see the footage.”
The brutal incident happened at about 8.30pm on July 16.
The court heard there had been ‘some history’ between Fowler and Jack and his friend Ross Whitehouse.
Ruba Huleihel, prosecuting, said: “Leon Fowler used his car as a highly dangerous weapon and deliberately drove at speed into Mr Kent.
“He was walking along the street on the pavement, and had no chance of moving out of the way and was struck from behind.
“Mr Kent was thrown into the front garden of a property. The defendant then got out of the VW Golf and started to attack Ross Whitehouse.
“He punched him approximately nine times and kicked and stamped on him four times.
“At no point did the defendant attempt to check or assist Mr Kent, who appeared to be unconscious.
“Following disclosure of the CCTV, he stated he was trying to scare Mr Kent and wasn’t thinking straight.
“He said he had blacked out and couldn’t remember anything and had brain fog.”
Reading a victim impact statement she said: “Mr Kent’s face still burns from the nerve damage as a result of being hit by the vehicle.
“He will never get back to how he was before the incident. He has memory loss and struggles to retain information.
“He has always worked in construction but can no longer lift heavy things or put weight on his arm.
“His mental health has suffered. He used to be confident but that is no longer the case.
“He’s being treated by a psychiatrist for anxiety, depression and PTSD. There isn’t a day that goes by that he doesn’t think about what has happened.”
Jonathan Underhill, defending, said: “What Mr Fowler did on that day is as inexplicable as it is inexcusable.
“There was some history between Mr Fowler and these two gentlemen, but it does not excuse what he did.
“He has never troubled the courts before. He is ashamed by what he has done.
“He is aware he has irrevocably changed the lives of two other men.”
Judge William Mousley said: “For reasons that remain unclear, you decided to deliberately drive your car at speed into two pedestrians who you knew with whom you appear to have a problem.
“They were unaware of the impending collision and had no chance of avoiding what took place.
“Jack Kent was thrown through the air and landed in the front garden of a property.
“You then got out of your car and, not showing any kind of concern or interest in Mr Kent, you set about Mr Whitehouse.”
He jailed Fowler, of Bournemouth, for nine years and disqualified him from driving for six and a half years.
Judge Mousley also handed him a ten-year restraining order preventing him from contacting the victims.