Moment Tesla driver sparks 100mph motorway crash with new mum while high
The shocking moment a Tesla driver high on drugs crashed into a car containing a mother and her tiny baby at 100mph was caught on video.
Josselin Herjean smashed the red £50,000 vehicle into the back of a BMW containing Kirsty Skinner as she returned from hospital following the birth of her daughter. The clip showed Herjean, 51, swerving from the middle lane of the M27 in Southampton, Hampshire, into the outside lane before ploughing into the rear of the white car. The BMW, containing Ms Skinner, her partner Jamie Swinfield, and their other three children aged five, three, and one, carries on out of control along the carriageway in a cloud of smoke.
Southampton Crown Court heard how Herjean was in the midst of a psychotic episode due to the stress of working in the 'high pressure' environment of the London Stock Exchange. Incredibly, no one was injured in the incident.
Prosecuting, Adrian Fleming, told Southampton Crown Court: “The Tesla, still going at a grossly excessive speed, pulled out without warning, and erratically, into lane four. It then hit the BMW in the rear. The car jolted forward then it hit the central reservation and the back of the car jolted up into the air."
Josselin Herjean outside Southampton Crown Court (Solent News & Photo Agency)After the collision, witness Eleanor Randall, a nurse, went over to the Tesla where she found 'Mr Herjean throwing clothing out of the vehicle onto the carriageway'. She reported 'she could smell cannabis' on him and Herjean showed 'no compassion' and 'didn't check on the family in the BMW'. According to the nurse, when she informed the driver he was doing more than 100mph, “he shrugged”.
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In a victim impact statement read to court, Mr Swinfield said his newborn daughter 'could easily have been orphaned' and the impact of the crash felt like he had been 'sucker punched in the head'. He added: "This incident has traumatised me and my family. I felt like I had nearly lost my family. I look at my three kids when putting them to bed and get upset."
The moment the Tesla hit the rear of the BMW containing the family (Hampshire Police/Solent News)Mr Fleming added: "There is significant excessive speed when pulling out and a highly dangerous manoeuvre. [Herjean] had been tested at the scene and was negative to alcohol but positive to cannabis. Back at the police station, he failed to give a sample of blood."
Grace McConnell, representing Herjean, told the court at the time of the incident, he was experiencing a psychotic episode due to the stress of work. Ms McConnell added: "[He was working under] extremely high pressure and it was this pressure from work that led to this episode in his life and the situation he found himself in last October. He was experiencing distress about who he was and where he was at that time."
Herjean, of Hamble, Hants, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and failing to provide a specimen for analysis. He was handed a suspended jail sentence and disqualified from driving for 18 months.
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