Robert Stephenson, 21, was fatally run over while lying asleep in the middle of a road
A taxi driver who hit and killed a student lying asleep in the middle of road after a night out thought he was driving over a bin bag, a court has heard.
Frank Norman, 71, hit and killed Robert Stephenson, 21, while driving a fare in his Ford Mondeo around York.
Mr Stephenson had attended a rugby tournament and was drunk when he fell asleep in the middle of the road.
But a jury at York Crown Court was told Norman was not paying enough close attention to the street in the Micklegate area of the city on March 26, 2016.
Simon Waley, prosecuting, told the court: ‘Mr Stephenson was stationary and his body remained on the road directly in the path of this Mondeo… The defendant didn’t slow down.’
Mr Waley said another taxi had seen the third year undergraduate lying in the road and stopped to avoid hitting him, before Norman ran him over at about 2.35am.
Police collision expert PC David Taylor also alleged that a driver could have seen there was something on the road from 75 yards (70 metres).
Mr Stephenson had attended a rugby tournament and was drunk when he fell asleep in the middle of the road in the Micklegate area of York on March 26, 2016
The prosecution alleges that Norman did not check it was safe to drive over what was in the road, or he was not keeping a good enough look out.
‘We say that his driving was therefore careless and he therefore caused the death of Mr Stephenson,’ added Mr Waley.
Norman told the jury he was taking four teachers from St Sampson’s Square to Acomb and was travelling at about 20mph at the time of the incident.
The taxi driver, who had more than 34 years behind the wheel, alleged that he did not see the ‘object’ in front of his taxi until he was ‘on top of it’.
The court heard he believed it was ‘a bin bag’ and so drove over it. ‘I wouldn’t have done so if I had known what it was,’ Norman said.
‘If you knew it was a person, you would have swerved and avoided it?’ asked defence barrister Michael Rawlinson. ‘Yes,’ replied Norman.
Mr Stephenson, of Pickering, North Yorkshire, had suffered multiple injuries and was declared dead at York Hospital shortly afterwards.
Mr Waley said Mr Stephenson had been in York city centre after attending a rugby tournament and by the early hours ‘he had clearly had a great deal to drink’.
The jury were shown the CCTV footage of the moment of impact which struck and killed the victim. Frames before the incident showed he was unsteady on his feet.
Mr Waley said: ‘He can be seen to lie down, tragically for him, lie down on the roadway – it would appear he may have gone to sleep.’
Norman, of York, denies death by careless driving. The trial continues.
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