John Kearney pleads guilty to dangerous driving while on drugs

A courier who was high on a cocktail of drugs “blacked out”, stopped in the middle of the road before driving on the wrong side of the road before crashing the car, nearly killing his passenger, a court has heard.

John Kearney has admitted to being high on a cocktail of drugs when he failed to make a slight right hand bend and mounted the footpath and collided heavily with a street lamp and pet shop front on Parramatta Road, Leichhardt. Picture: Google Maps

A part-time courier has admitted he was high on a cocktail of drugs when he drove erratically and crashed his car into an inner-west pet shop, severely injuring his passenger.

John Kearney, 36, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm and dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm under the influence in Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday.

Agreed facts tendered to court said Kearney was driving to pick up a woman from the St Clair area and take her home to Parramatta about 11pm on January 6.

The Parramatta man started driving on the M4 Motorway eastbound for about 15 minutes before he “blacked out”.

CCTV showed Kearney drove slowly, drifted from side to side, and collided with concrete barriers before driving off at high speed.

At one point he mounted the kerb and drove on the wrong side of the road for about 200m with other cars travelling in the opposite direction.

Kearney and the woman were both in an “erratic” state at the time and continued onto Parramatta Rd, Leichhardt, about 1.50am.

He stopped abruptly on the road, blocking two lanes of traffic and causing cars to merge into one lane to avoid a collision.

Kearney spent about 10 minutes there, with the car in neutral, while repeatedly revving the engine in an attempt to drive forward.

John Kearney pleaded guilty to two dangerous driving charges in Downing Centre on Thursday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

A bus driver stopped next to the car to check on the driver and his passenger, later telling police, “they look munted” and “they’re high as kites”.

The incident was captured on CCTV from surrounding businesses.

A short time later, Kearney put the car in the right gear and continued driving along Parramatta Rd above the 60km/h speed limit.

He failed to make a slight right-hand bend at an intersection, mounted the footpath, and collided heavily with a street lamp and the front of a pet shop.

The passenger required extrication when emergency services arrived, and both Kearney and the passenger were taken to hospital.

The woman suffered an open fracture to her right leg, multiple rib fractures, a spinal fracture, a potential live laceration, and dislocated her left ankle.

She had to be intubated in intensive care.

A pharmacologist report of Kearney’s blood sample determined he was “very substantially impaired” due to a cocktail of drugs in his system including amphetamine, meth, cannabis and more.

Kearney will be sentenced in Downing Centre District Court next year.