Superintendent Virginia Read ‘tried to run me off the road’, court hears

A motorist has told a court she felt ‘very vulnerable’ after a plain-clothed senior NT Police officer ‘tried to run me off the road’ on a remote stretch of highway ‘in the middle of nowhere’.

NT Police officer Virginia Read has pleaded not guilty to assaulting a woman during a traffic stop last year.

A heated exchange during a traffic stop outside Adelaide River that resulted in a senior cop being charged with assault left a motorist feeling “scared and harassed”, a court has heard.

On Monday, NT Police Superintendent Virginia Read pleaded not guilty in the Darwin Local Court to one count of aggravated assault following the incident on July 17 last year.

Youth justice worker Skye-Lee Anderson told the court she was driving home from Daly River when a police “recruitment car” pulled her over and Read got out wearing a Maroons rugby league jumper.

Ms Anderson said she felt “very vulnerable” after Read “tried to run me off the road” on the remote stretch of highway “in the middle of nowhere”.

She said she initially refused to provide her address as she was “scared for her to know where I live” before the plain-clothed officer “pushed me off my vehicle and took my keys”.

“From the moment she got out of the car she was angry and forceful,” she said.

“I said I had work to get to and she said she didn’t give a f—.”

Ms Anderson said she started filming the interaction due to “the way I was being harassed” and because she “didn’t think anyone would believe me”.

She said Read eventually returned her keys before following her “the whole way” home.

Ms Anderson said she called police to complain about the incident the following day but only chose to press charges later because “I felt like if I didn’t then she would just keep doing it to other people”.

“I didn’t believe I should be given fines for something I didn’t do and I didn’t want it to happen to anybody else,” she said.

In the video footage played to the court, Ms Anderson is heard to say “I just don’t see how you can get me when I was doing 130 when you don’t have a radar”.

“Aren’t you by law meant to show me that I was speeding? Don’t you have a radar? No you don’t,” she says.

“I was doing 130, don’t say I wasn’t, I overtook you, you were doing 120, are you going to arrest me right now?”

Read is heard to reply, “I’ve asked you for your name and address, I have the authority by the law to arrest you”.

The officer asks again for Ms Anderson’s address and after initially telling her to “look it up”, she begins to provide it before Read says “guess what” and appears to push her away from the vehicle.

The trial continues on Friday.

Originally published as Superintendent Virginia Read ‘tried to run me off the road’, court hears