Benjamin John Ralston: Teen meth-addict destroyed police car in desperate escape attempt

A court has heard how police officers were forced to flee the vehicle seconds before the Logan teenager rammed headfirst into the bonnet, causing more than $39k worth of damage.

A young Logan man in “self-destruct mode” rammed headfirst into a police car, causing more than $38,000 of damages and sparking a car chase through Beenleigh, a court heard today.

Benjamin John Ralston, 19, pleaded guilty to 27 offences at the Beenleigh Magistrates Court including four burglaries, two counts of evasion and two counts of dangerous operation of a vehicle.

The court heard the spate of offending began on September 17, 2020 when Ralston drove his unregistered, uninsured motorbike with methamphetamine present in his saliva, having never possessed a license.

Benjamin John Ralston was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment at the Beenleigh Magistrates Court.

Ralston suffered a serious crash that left him with broken legs, broken ribs and in an induced coma for a week.

“He nearly lost a leg,” defence counsel Emma Kearney of Ide Lawyers told the court.

“Then, not long after, he thought his relationship (of two years) ended … and he went into self-destruct mode.”

According to Ms Kearney, Ralston began consuming large quantities of Xanax, became addicted to methamphetamines and ultimately became homeless, all while still struggling with a debilitating leg injury.

“He was living out of his car, with nowhere to go,” Ms Kearney said.

“He didn’t care what happened to him.”

The self-destructive thoughts led to progressively more serious offending and on November 11 Ralston was charged for evading police.

The court heard Ralston was driving an unregistered and uninsured car with four passengers along Wembley and Browns Plains Rds when he sped away from a police car.

According to the police prosecutor, Ralston drove with “reckless disregard” for the safety of others, going through a red light, mounting a kerb, driving down the wrong side of the road and causing other drivers to take evasive action to avoid a collision.

Benjamin John Ralston suffered a severe leg injury from a motorbike crash in September 2020. He pleaded guilty to driving with methamphetamines in his system. Picture: Facebook.

Ralston then broke into four homes between February 17 and March 16 at Coopers Plains and Eight Mile Plains, on three occasions successfully stealing property of the occupants.

The offending came to a head on March 21 when Ralston was cornered by police in an underground car park in Beenleigh.

The prosecution told the court Ralston rammed his ute headfirst into the police vehicle in a desperate attempt to avoid apprehension.

Body-worn police camera footage tendered to the court showed police having to jump out of the car, with just seconds to spare before the bonnet was completely crushed and the car was totalled.

Ralston also drove into a civilian car and a concrete pylon, causing significant damage to both.

Once Ralston escaped the car park he drove the ute down Logan St, past the Beenleigh Courthouse, and onward into rural areas where police finally found his car crashed into a ditch.

The tyres were delaminated, one had deflated, but Ralston continued to hit the accelerator and they were spinning as police approached to arrest him.

Police officers had to smash the driver’s window to pull Ralston from the car and he was then taken into custody, where he has remained since.

Ralston was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment with immediate parole eligibility.