William Anthony Hall sentenced for hitting and killing Alan Reed with his car at Maitland in 2022
After a long night of work and a “micro sleep”, a man hit and killed another man on the side of the road as he put his coffee into his car. The driver has now been sentenced.
Newcastle
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A truck driver who hit and killed a man while he was putting coffee into his car on the side of the road has been spared jail time.
William Anthony Hall, 47, pleaded guilty to negligent driving occasioning death over a crash that killed Kurri Kurri man Alan John Reed, 62, early morning on June 21, 2022.
A more serious charge of dangerous driving occasioning death was previously dropped.
The court heard Mr Reed was travelling north along Cessnock Rd at Maitland when he pulled over to get a coffee at a mobile vendor.
He returned to his vehicle with coffee in hand and proceeded to place it in his car’s cup holder, still while the door was open as he reached in.
But at that moment the court heard Hall was travelling in his truck with a trailer behind, and was feeling fatigued from a night’s work, before a “micro sleep” caused him to veer.
While Hall’s truck narrowly missed Mr Reed, it was the trailer behind that struck him and his door as he was getting into the vehicle.
The court heard Hall immediately stopped and attempted to offer assistance but tragically he died at the scene.
At Newcastle District Court on Friday, Judge Roy Ellis said Hall struggled to live with his negligence after what had happened that morning.
He said he was “unlikely to reoffend”, demonstrated genuine remorse, and had good prospects of rehabilitation
He was sentenced to an 18 months community correction order (CCO), a jail term served within the community.
The disqualification of his license from June 2022 was continued for a period of one year and four months.
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