Ex-army cop Jared Cook jailed for horror Springvale Rd smash
A former army cop was off his head drunk doing 170km/h before he caused a horror smash in Nunawading that left a young dad fighting for life with a judge saying it was only a “miracle” the victim wasn’t killed.
East
Don't miss out on the headlines from East . Followed categories will be added to My News.
A former military policeman drank at two pubs for four hours and speeding before he caused a horror smash in Nunawading which left a young father fighting for life.
Jared Cook, 30, was sentenced in the County Court to a minimum three years and eight months jail after pleading guilty to negligently driving a motor vehicle causing serious injury.
Cook, who had a blood alcohol reading of 0.17, was doing 172km/h in his Holden ute along Springvale Rd when he clipped his victim’s Suzuki sedan just after 7.30pm on January 10 last year.
Victim Zeeshan Burhan spun “uncontrollably” across three lanes, struck the kerb and flew through the air.
The front of his car hit a tree and the rear went through the front fence of a property.
Cook’s ute also spun uncontrollably before it struck the same tree.
Mr Burhan, 23 at the time, was taken to the Royal Melbourne with serious internal injuries and a spinal fracture.
He required lifesaving surgery before spending two weeks at the Royal Melbourne — five days in intensive care — and a further four months at a rehabilitation hospital.
A medical expert said Mr Burhan — who experienced significant ongoing pain and post-traumatic stress disorder with panic attacks, nightmares and flashbacks — would have died without emergency surgery.
The expert said Mr Burhan, a father, was also at risk of ongoing impaired functioning, pain and psychological and digestive problems.
Cook was uninjured in the crash.
The court heard Cook had been drinking solidly at the Chase Hotel, Forest Hill, and the Mitcham Hotel for about four hours leading up to the smash after getting into an argument with his girlfriend.
Witnesses said they saw Cook driving “fast and erratic” in the lead to the crash.
Cook, who grew up in Gippsland, completed Year 12 at Sale Secondary College before moving to Melbourne with his girlfriend.
At 23, Cook enlisted in the Australian Defence Force where he was a military policeman for three years.
He then worked as a residential care worker with the Berry Street Program for children with special needs while completing a nursing diploma.
Cook was working at the Bendigo Health Adult Inpatient Psychiatric Unit at the time of the smash.
Judge Frances Hogan said Cook would’ve been charged with manslaughter by criminal negligence had Mr Burhan died.
“The photographs of the mangled mass of metal that had been Mr Burhan’s car before this collision might cause one to think that it was a miracle that Mr Burhan was not killed,” she said.
“Indeed, the massive damage to your utility might cause one to think it extraordinary that you, too, were not killed in this horrific collision caused by your erratic, alcohol-fuelled driving at an insane speed.
“It is hard to know how members of the community do not absorb the message that, if they are emotionally distressed or angry, and particularly if they are affected by alcohol, they should never get behind the wheel of a car to drive.
“The Transport Accident Commission has had powerful advertisements on television for four decades which highlight the awful consequences of irresponsible driving behaviour.
“The TAC slogan ‘If you drink, then drive, you’re a bloody idiot’ has become part of our vernacular, but still people like you do not heed the basic message.”
Cook — who spent 205 days on remand — was jailed for a maximum five years and three months.
MORE NEWS
OPEN UNIVERSITIES CREEP PART OF ONLINE PEDO RING
DRUG DEALER DAD NABBED WITH METH, GUN, ROIDS, GHB