Shocking moment teen driver inhales hippy crack from balloon before mounting pavement and hitting pedestrian who still cannot walk freely a year later
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This is the shocking moment a teenager was seen inhaling hippy crack while driving before her Fiat 500 mounted the pavement and seriously injured a pedestrian.
Louisa Tunstall, 18, was seen sucking on a gold balloon with an unnamed passenger moments before her car crashed into a tree, flipping the vehicle on to its side.
Teaching assistant Tracey Holman, 50, who was taking her regular evening walk, was hit from behind by the runaway vehicle as it careered off the road.
She was left severely injured in the impact with multiple fractures and injuries to her left leg, foot and ankle.
Almost a year on the keen netball player is still undergoing treatment for her injuries and says she is a 'prisoner in her own home' as she has to sleep in a downstairs room.
Inquiries revealed Tunstall, who lives with her parents in Lowton, near Leigh, Greater Manchester had picked up a stash of nitrous oxide and was using it at the time of impact.
As other motorists stopped to help the victim, she was heard telling her passenger to 'shut up' before she started screaming for someone to get her out of the wreckage of her car. It is thought neither she or her passenger were injured.
At Bolton Crown Court, Tunstall, now 19, wept in the dock as she was ordered to be locked up in a Young Offender Institute for 20 months after she admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving, possession of class C drug nitrous oxide and driving while unfit through drugs.
The incident occurred at 7pm on May 24 last year after Tunstall had been out with friends.
Prosecutor Alex Beevers said: 'This is a tragic case involving a young woman with no previous convictions and a victim who has suffered life-changing injuries.
'This is a case where ultimately the mere act of consuming nitrous oxide behind the wheel is obviously an inherently dangerous thing to do. It is staggeringly dangerous driving.
'Mrs Holman was out walking as she does every evening when she was suddenly and forcefully struck from behind.
'On the floor she noted blood dripping down her left leg and saw a white car on its side and said it did not feel real.
'The incident was witnessed in part by another woman, who was idling in her vehicle when she saw a Fiat 500 occupied by two females with the car appearing to be traveling in excess of the 30mph speed limit.
'The driver was inhaling from a gold balloon. After the car crashed she saw the same golden balloon deflated lying on the pavement.
'Two other witnesses described seeing the Fiat suddenly career to the left and hit a tree before coming airborne and landing on its side.
'One of them saw a pedestrian had been struck down and went to help along with others.. He heard a female passenger say words to the effect of, "She dropped something and went to pick it up. I do not know what happened."
'The female driver was telling her passenger to shut up. She then started screaming for someone to help her exit the vehicle.
'Police attended and the defendant said she had purchased the nitrous oxide for future use. She momentarily took her eyes off the road to retrieve something from the footwell.
'Officers recovered two large cylindrical canisters from the vehicle which were sent away for forensic assessment.
'Though the presence of nitrous oxide cannot be formally tested in the blood one of the significant aspects of the investigation was that one of the canisters weighed much less.
'The weight of both canisters should be 2kg but one of the canisters was 1..6kg which suggested that one of them had been used and discharged.
'There was also a nozzle inserted in the top of one of the canisters indicative of some use.
'CCTV showed both the defendant and the passenger with two fully inflated gold balloons in their mouths moments before what occurred.'
Mrs Holman underwent multiple rounds of surgery and had metal screws inserted in her leg. Doctors said she will suffer arthritis in the foot in future and require further surgery.
In a statement she said: 'I am absolutely devastated and this has caused immense pain and trauma. I worked as a teaching assistant in a local primary school which I absolutely loved, so much so that I never missed a day's work. I have always enjoyed fun and being energetic. I also had a passion for netball and have played for a team for the last 18 years.
'I used to walk 20,000 steps every day and enjoyed that. I had a family holiday booked in the Algarve weeks after which I was not able to go on.
'To the person that caused this, it was you who chose to get in the car and drive. You have turned my world upside down. You have stolen my life as I knew it. You have taken away my liberty.
'I have gone from being able to work and have a social life to being a prisoner in my own home. I have scars much deeper than on my skin. When I close my eyes I am constantly reminded of the accident. I have been off work so I have had to approach the DWP for money which is embarrassing. I should not ask for money.
'My marriage is not the same. I am now dependent on my husband. I used to go out every other weekend with my husband. I have not been out since the accident. My mother and father suffer from dementia and I used to be a carer for them - now they look after me.
'They have looked after me since I was born. I should be paying that back and I cannot. My daughter is going through university but she is now one of my main carer and takes me to medical appointments. I just wish my daughter was able to forget the incident and live her life to the full and not worry about me.'
In mitigation defence counsel Suzanne Payne said: 'Miss Tunstall is very sorry for her actions on that day. She does not go a day without thinking of Mrs Holman.
'Her whole family thinks about Miss Holman. It is a tragic case where two people's lives are going to be changed irreversibly and also that of their families.
'She is still a very young person. This is no excuse for her actions last year but young people do not mature fully until their mid-20s.
'She does present as a very immature person and still has a lot to learn. She has come to court prepared for an immediate custodial sentence and is terrified of it.'
Tunstall was also given a two year driving disqualification to start when she is freed.
In sentencing Judge Abigail Hudson told her: 'Taking nitrous oxide with a balloon whilst driving a car is inherently dangerous.
'It must be entirely obvious to you that doing that would put everyone around you at risk. Yet you deliberately ignored the rules of the road and had a total disregard for the risk of danger to others.
'The result of your selfishness has been disastrous for Mrs Holman.
'There has been an impact on her ability to exercise and participate in leisure activities and it has profoundly impacted her ability to work.
'You are a very young woman and while your presence here is absolutely tragic, you caused damage to Mrs Holman and her family.
'The message must be sent to the public that those who inhale nitrous oxide while driving will go to prison.. '
