A driver accused of killing his passenger in a three-vehicle collision ‘wasn’t dangerous or careless,’ his defence has said.
Usher Donson, 27, was behind the wheel of Silver BMW when it was involved in a collision on Bury New Road, Whitefield, which killed 31-year-old Aaron Jarvis in November 2021.
Donson, of Dallow Road, Luton, was arrested in August 2022 and charged with causing death by dangerous driving, which he denies.
A trial held at Bolton Crown Court this week was told that the car crossed the central reservation onto the opposing carriageway before colliding with a black Renault Megane at around 6.10am.
The court heard that Donson and another man were seen running away from the scene of crash before returning to retrieve Donson's mobile phone.
The men then got into a taxi and travelled to Whalley Range where the defendant’s girlfriend lived.
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Mr Jarvis, originally from Stoke-on-Trent, had been sitting on a back passenger seat of the car and suffered 'catastrophic' head injuries.
He was pronounced dead at Royal Salford Hospital later that morning.
Donson is on trial for causing death by dangerous driving, but the jury has been asked to considered the lesser charge of death by careless driving.
He has also been charged with causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
It was heard that Donson had reached speeds of around 43mph on a bend coming off the M60 onto the A56 Bury New Road before losing control of the vehicle.
A witness said she saw the driver of the Silver BMW “driving like a fool.”
During interview in hospital, another passenger told police he had asked Donson to ‘chill out, you’re driving like it’s stolen’ in reference to his handling of the vehicle.
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In his closing statement to the jury, Henry Blackshaw, prosecuting said: “He must have been accelerating aggressively to reach the speed that he did.
“He must have failed to have regard to the warning signs.”
Paul Treble, defending, said the speed at which Donson had been driving was not extreme and defended his actions in the aftermath of the crash.
He said: “Can you imagine how other people felt who were in the whole collision as the defendant was, in moments of crisis you never how we are going to react.”
Mr Treble argued that irrespective of his responsibility for the crash “this was a terrible collision, he may have wanted to run away from that.”
“His case is it was [him] driving, it wasn’t dangerous, it wasn’t careless.”
The trial is expected to continue on Friday before a jury is sent to deliberate and return their final verdict.
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