E-scooter rider who left vet with fractured skull after crash spared jail

An e-scooter rider who jumped a red light and knocked down a vet, leaving her with a fractured skull, has been spared jail.

Joseph Pedelty, 34, who had previously been banned from the roads for drink driving, was caught in dashcam footage riding off while veterinary surgeon Raquel Delgado-Calos lay in the road.

The city’s magistrates’ court was told the red light was ‘very clear to see’. Ms Delgado-Calo described feeling as though she had been ‘hit by a bus’ when Pedelty smashed into her at high speed.

She has been left permanently scarred after suffering deep cuts to her head and nose, in addition to fracturing her skull, following the collision in Portsmouth on January 14 this year.

In a statement, Ms Delgado-Calo said: ‘We were walking and we were both pulling suitcases.

‘We approached a pedestrian crossing, just as we arrived the light was turning red and a car was stopping.

‘I turned right and took a step, and I felt a big impact. The feeling I now have is it was like a heavy slap to my face.

‘I was on the road thinking I had been hit by a bus. I lifted my arms and legs to make sure I could move. I could feel blood running down my face and what felt like meat between my teeth.

‘It was only then I realised I had had an accident. I was told I had been hit by a man riding an e-scooter and he had got back on the scooter and left.’

Pedelty, of Waterlooville, was banned from the roads for 18 months and handed a community order of the same length after pleading guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

The court heard he went for the scooter ride to ‘clear his head’.

Defending, Roni Pittman, said he put himself forward to police after a media appeal to find the e-scooter driver.

‘He was eager to put himself forward,’ she said, adding: ‘He mistakenly did not see the seriousness of the incident at the time.

‘When the media call was put out there, he was shocked and horrified at the injuries this lady had suffered. He accepts his actions and this incident.’

But talking through the footage, prosecutor Giles Fletcher said: ‘The defendant doesn’t stop when he’s on the scooter. He is on a vehicle which is not insured.

‘He didn’t comply with a red light which was very clear to see. He failed to stop at the scene and caused a serious injury. He disappears.

‘You can see the surprise of the partner of the victim.’

Chair of the magistrates’ bench Ryan Rutlidge criticised Pedelty for not stopping to check on his victim’s welfare.