Distressing footage shows teen impaled by fence in drink-drive horror crash
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Police have released distressing video of a drink-drive horror crash that ended with a teenager being impaled by a fence. Shocking doorbell camera footage (click to play above) shows Barber reaching speeds of 70mph in a 30mph hour zone as he drunkenly sped along residential streets.
Horrifying body-cam footage of drink-drive death
Police body-cam footage then captured the wreckage with a fence post sticking out from the back window as one officer says: "We're looking at a possible fatality". William, who was a backseat passenger, was pronounced dead at the scene despite the efforts of paramedics.
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Hide AdHarrowing audio also released by police captures panicked friends screaming: "Ollie, stay in your car. Ollie don't move." William Hubbard, 19, died after being impaled by a fence post when Oliver Barber, 20, lost control of his car in Shifnal, Shrops., on May 27 last year.
Drink-driver 1.5 times over legal limit
A court heard Barber got behind the wheel of his BMW 1 Series despite having spent the evening drinking in the market town with friends. He offered to give three people a lift home, including William, but shortly after getting in the car he collided with a fence on the A464.
Barber suffered serious facial injuries and was taken to hospital for treatment, where it was discovered he was 1.5 times over the legal drink drive limit.
Banned from driving
Barber, of Shifnal, was jailed for eight years and banned from driving for 11 years at Shrewsbury Crown Court.
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Hide AdThe two surviving passengers had said in statements that Barber had missed a left turn to his friend's house and turned his head, distracting him from the road ahead. Ms Francis said the BMW hit a bollard on the opposite carriageway before hitting another “head on” in the centre reservation, which caused the car to career into a hedgerow and then a fence.
Drink-driver will ‘never forgive’ himself
The court heard the airbags had deployed and Barber and two of his passengers got out, but it became “immediately apparent” to them William had been killed. A post mortem revealed one of the fence posts dislodged by the BMW had flown through the windscreen and impaled him.
Barber was breathalysed and found to be over the drink drive limit and a further blood sample taken showing he had 134mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood – the legal limit being 80mg. Andrew Thompson, defending, said his client had shown “genuine remorse” admitted drinking as well as speeding, and said he would “never forgive myself for what happened”.
Family ‘ripped apart’
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Hide AdSpeaking after the sentencing, William's family said their “lives have been ripped apart” and no punishment for the driver would compensate for their loss. Mum Emma said: “Will was the most loveable, funny, wilful, caring soul with a natural ability to just understand everyone he met and see their point of view. I want people to realise and take notice that road crime is serious a crime and the devastating consequences will be forever endured by me and so many others.”
PC Helen O’Connor, from West Mercia Police’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: “This collision could have been avoided if Barber had not got behind the wheel that night knowing he had drank more than the legal limit.”
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