John Richard Dale sentenced for ramming police car

December 12 is a day etched in Queensland Police history for all the wrong reasons. For one Sunshine Coast officer, it was a day that made her realise her own mortality.

John Richard Dale put a police officer in grave danger when he reversed into a police car. Photo: social media

A Sunshine Coast police officer whose car was rammed at speed has opened up about the frightening impact of the collision, which happened just hours before two officers were murdered in an unrelated incident in rural Queensland.

Kingston man John Richard Dale, 60, represented himself in the Maroochydore Magistrates Court via videolink on February 21, where he was sentenced for more than 16 charges spanning the Sunshine Coast and north Brisbane.

Dale was extradited from the Northern Territory in January after he reversed at speed into a police car that attempted to pull him over on the Bruce Hwy at Palmview for driving disqualified on December 12, 2022.

Police prosecutor Brendan Newman said Dale had pulled over and waited for the police car to stop before accelerating backwards at speed to ram the car.

The officer was alone at the time.

“Her head (snapped) rearwards and (hit) the headrest ... she had no (seat) belt on at this stage. Her car was immediately disabled,” Sergeant Newman said.

Dale then sped off from the scene.

Sergeant Newman said his actions placed the officer “in grave danger” and caused close to $15,000 worth of damage.

The officer suffered neck pain and headaches after the event, which continued well after her work day had finished, the court was told.

But in a heartbreaking twist, Sergeant Newman said she then came home to the news that two officers had been ambushed and murdered during an unrelated siege in Wieambilla, near Tara.

He said this “changed the way (the officer) viewed her own mortality”.

The court was told the two events made the officer realise “you could die easily in this job”.

Sergeant Newman said Dale had fled to the Northern Territory after the event, and had to be extradited after refusing to hand himself in.

Dale told the court he was homeless at the time, “sleeping on concrete” in Brisbane and working at a factory.

Magistrate Matthew McLaughlin said it was “sad to see where (Dale) had ended up”, because he seemed intelligent but had made bad choices.

Dale had the opportunity to obtain work in the Northern Territory after his release, the court was told.

He pleaded guilty to dangerous operation of a vehicle, seven charges of driving without a licence, evade police, serious assault, break and enter, four charges of stealing and unlawful use of a motor vehicle.

He was sentenced to two years behind bars and disqualified from driving for three years, but will be released on November 26 with the remainder of his sentence suspended for three years.

A conviction was recorded.

Originally published as John Richard Dale sentenced for ramming police car