Wild ride ends in jail on long list of charges

Judge Stephen Harrop told Jacob Robert Scott-Cosgrove, 19, he was lucky not to have killed himself or others during an August 8 escapade on State Highway 2 in the Hutt Valley.

A young Masterton man facing a raft of charges including fleeing from pursuing police and dodging road spikes has been sentenced to three months' jail and has had his driver's licence cancelled for 15 months.

Jacob Robert Scott-Cosgrove, 19, appeared for sentence in Masterton District Court on Tuesday and was told by Judge Stephen Harrop he was lucky not to have killed himself or others during his August 8 escapade on State Highway 2 in the Hutt Valley.

For that episode, Scott-Cosgrove had been charged with reckless driving. But he was also convicted for failing to stop, driving when his licence had been revoked, two charges of wheel spinning, refusing to supply police with a sample of blood and breaching community work.

Judge Harrop said that before the offences Scott-Cosgrove had a "relatively short" criminal history, which included a single driving conviction, for careless driving.

But the more recent offences had shown "you have a very poor attitude to your driving obligations".

The August 8 incident started about 4am at Haywards Hill when Scott-Cosgrove fled from police, despite a flat rear tyre.

Judge Harrop said he had intentionally driven on to the wrong side of the road to avoid running over road spikes on two occasions, heading north, before driving into the rear of a police car when he reached River Rd.

Later he hit another patrol car and was likely to face a civil prosecution, with police seeking reparation.

He had refused to give a blood sample and told police he had not stopped because he didn't want his car to be impounded.

"You were very lucky you didn't kill someone, or yourself," Judge Harrop said.

He said the wheel-spinning offences had taken place while Scott-Cosgrove was on bail.