Cabbie forced me off road - death crash driver

Cabbie forced me off road - death crash driver
- 11 January 2008
A MAN who had never driven on a public road before, told today (Friday) that a black cab drifting into his lane forced him to plough into two pedestrians, killing one of them.

Snaresbrook Crown Court heard Edmund Adade, 20, of Crispe House, Dovehouse Mead, Barking, hit 16-year-old Thomas Hutton on a slip road at A13 Goresbrook Interchange in Dagenham, after "undertaking" traffic at speed.

Adade, who had three passengers, now holds a full driving licence but only had a provisional one at the time.

He told jurors: "When I noticed that he (the cabbie) was drifting into my lane, I slammed on the brakes and turned the wheel to avoid hitting his car."

He said: "I would have ended up killing the people in the car, I only had a split second to make a decision."

Adade described the moment he ploughed into Thomas and his friend Lewis Trumpet, who escaped with cuts and bruises.

"I saw them when the car was already on the pavement and I was braking.

"When the taxi pushed me over, the front tyre on the passenger's side went on to the pavement. I couldn't turn back on to the road.

"That's when I hit the barrier. Then on the way back on to the pavement, I hit the boy and the car went back on to the road. He was on the roof of the car. The car came to a stop and he rolled off the bonnet."

Adade said he rang for an ambulance and tried to help Thomas.

He also said the taxi driver got out of his cab to remonstrate with him.

"He only came over to have a moan at me. He said: 'You nearly hit my cab, do you know what you did?'"

Adade had bought the Ford Fiesta an hour and 20 minutes earlier.

He denies causing death by dangerous driving on June 11, 2006.

The trial continues.