Dylan Robert Clarke from Port Macquarie in Taree court for drunk, negligent driving

A Mid-North Coast cook, thrown from his van and found lying in a pool of blood, has been sentenced for negligent and drunk driving with the magistrate saying alcohol had “taken over”.

Dylan Robert Clarke pleaded guilty to negligent driving (not causing death or grievous bodily harm) and driving with a mid range concentration of alcohol.

A Port Macquarie man thrown from his van and found “hostile and aggressive” by paramedics lying in a pool of blood with a broken pelvis has been sentenced for negligent and drunk driving.

Dylan Robert Clarke was in Taree Local Court on Wednesday, December 14, charged with negligent driving (not causing death or grievous bodily harm) and driving with a mid range concentration of alcohol.

Magistrate Allison Hawkins said it was the second time in his “young life” that Clarke had found himself before the court on traffic matters.

“And both times on your Ps. It’s only a matter of time before you kill yourself or someone else,” she said.

“You drove drunk and lost control of your car – it’s (alcohol) taken over.”

Dylan Robert Clarke leaves Taree Local Court on Wednesday, December 14.

The 23-year-old works as a cook at a chicken shop in Port Macquarie and travelled to Taree by train to attend court, his lawyer said.

According to police facts tendered to court, Clarke was driving a Mitsubishi Express panel van east along Manning Point Rd about 11pm on the night of August 14 and failed to negotiate a gentle right hand curve and came to a rest in bush, five kilometres off the road facing in the opposite direction he had been travelling in.

When police arrived about 11.30pm they saw long skid marks leading up to the crash site and found Clarke lying on the ground next to the van which was extensively damaged on all sides.

There was blood on his head and on the ground underneath him, and a strong smell of alcohol.

When paramedics arrived he was “hostile and aggressive”, according to court documents.

About 1.30am on August 15, Clarke was flown to John Hunter hospital with a fractured pelvis.

A blood sample returned an alcohol reading of 0.102.

On August 23, he attended Taree police station and pleaded guilty to the two charges.

For negligent driving he was convicted and fined $400 and for driving with a mid range concentration of alcohol he must serve a 12-month community corrections order to be of good behaviour, abstain from alcohol and undertake drug and alcohol counselling.

He was disqualified from driving for six months to be followed by an interlock licence period of 12 months.