Serial traffic offender, 23, was texting his girlfriend love hearts moments before crashing into two police officers – causing one to lose his leg
- A traffic offender has admitted to texting while driving when he hit a policeman
- Jakob Thorton had exchanged 29 messages with his girlfriend while on highway
- The 23-year-old ploughed into a random breath test station, hitting two officers
- One of the police officers had to have his leg amputated from below the knee
A serial traffic offender was sending his girlfriend romantic text messages while driving on a highway when he crashed into a police officer who later had his leg amputated.
Jakob Thornton, 23, reappeared in the New South Wales District Court on Tuesday, nearly a year after ramming his car into a random breath test station set up on the side of Sydney’s Hume Highway.
The court heard that the driver, who spent time behind bars for the crash, had exchanged 29 messages with his girlfriend while he was behind the wheel.
Serial traffic offender Jakob Thornton (pictured) was texting and driving when he ploughed into a random breath test station on the side of Sydney’s Hume Highway last February
A chain of messages sent between the pair over the course of a 35-minute drive came to an end when he ploughed through two police officers southwest of Sydney on the evening of February 16, 2018.
Among the texts were messages saying ‘I love you’ clad in heart emojis, as well as references to spending the night together and exchanging ‘snuggles’, according to news.com.au.
Both of the officers were severely injured.
The crash broke Senior Constable Matthew Foley’s leg and critically damaged Senior Constable Jonathan Wright’s right leg.
The latter’s injuries were so severe, 15cm of his leg had to be amputated.
Senior Constable and father-of-three Jonathan Wright (right) had to have his leg amputated
Thornton (pictured) later admitted to ‘pretty well’ not looking at the road when he crashed
The pair of injured officers were in attendance for Thorton’s sentencing hearing on Tuesday, flanked by their wives and a large showing of police and family.
In a victim impact statement, one of the officers told Thorton he hopes ‘you get what you deserve’.
Following the collision, Thorton admitted in court he was ‘pretty well’ not looking at the road and was ‘assuming’ where the sides and middle of the road was.
He also said he ‘couldn’t remember’ whether he had applied the brakes before he hit the breath testing station.
Thorton was initially remanded in custody after the crash.
But after two months, he was granted bail after his lawyer argued he was suffering trauma at the hands of other inmates.
Wright (right) appeared in court for Thornton’s sentencing on Tuesday, hugging his wife (left) as victim impact statements were read out
Thornton was initially remanded in custody but freed on bail two months later. Pictured is Thornton’s van after ramming into the random breath test station
He wrote a letter of apology while in custody, which was tendered to the court along with an apology written by his mother Katja.
Thorton was granted bail and released from custody in April and has been in-and-out of court since.
He pleaded guilty to two counts of dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm in August last year.
The 23-year-old will now appear in court on March 15 for sentencing.