Motorist admits reading text before fatal crash

A man has admitted he was distracted by an SMS message when he hit an elderly lady. Photo / Greg Bowker

A 21-year-old Havelock North car driver today admitted running into a 93-year-old woman on a pedestrian crossing in Hastings, causing fatal injuries, while he was distracted by a text message on his cellphone.

Phyllis Penman was treated at the scene by an off-duty nurse who witnessed the accident but she died about five hours later.

Curtis Raymond Lawson, unemployed, pleaded guilty in Hastings District Court to dangerous driving causing death on March 25. He was remanded on bail for sentence on August 20.

Police said Lawson was driving his Toyota Corolla car along Omahu Road in Hastings, near the Hawke's Bay Hospital.

He used his cellphone to send two text messages and received a reply to one a few moments later.

Mrs Penman had begun walking across a pedestrian crossing, which was marked by orange beacons and a central median with protective steel bars.

As Lawson reached down for his cellphone to read the incoming text message he struck Mrs Penman with the left-hand side of his car, throwing her on to the bonnet and into the windscreen before she fell back on to the roadway.

Lawson told police he did not see the woman because he was distracted by his cellphone.

- NZPA