Suspended prison sentence for drink driver who seriously injured his friend in collision

A 32-year-old man has been handed a 12-month prison sentence - suspended for two years – after his friend was seriously injured in a road traffic collision in Kettering last year.

Carl Joseph Mercieri, of Station Road, Kettering, was sentenced at Northampton Crown Court on Monday, February 13, where he was also disqualified from driving for three years, ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work, court costs and victim surcharge.

At an earlier court appearance in December last year, Mercieri pleaded guilty to two offences – causing serious injury by dangerous driving and driving a motor vehicle when the alcohol level was above the limit following a night out.

The court heard that between 12.30am and 1am on April 27, 2022, Mercieri drove his black BMW 1 Series along the A6183 towards Weekley, when he failed to negotiate the roundabout junction with Stamford Road in Kettering.

The car was projected over a grass bank, through a wooden fence, before colliding with a tree. This triggered the BMW’s in-car system, alerting a call centre in Spain of the collision. They in turn called Northamptonshire Police with details of its last known location.

Officers quickly attended the scene and found the 27-year-old passenger trapped in the car, and Mercieri was located in the bushes between the vehicle and the roundabout. Mercieri sustained serious injuries, and his passenger life threatening injuries. They were taken to University Hospital Coventry, where both men received immediate life-saving surgery.

Mercieri appeared intoxicated and provided a blood sample for analysis, which subsequently revealed he was over the prescribed limit for alcohol with a reading of 104 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 80 milligrams.

Following sentencing, lead investigator, PC Nick Timms of the Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: “This collision highlights the devastating effects drink driving can have and I am extremely disappointing that some people still choose to do it. Getting behind the wheel knowingly that you are over the prescribed alcohol level to drive is dangerous and reckless.

“Mercieri’s selfish actions has changed the life of his friend forever. The serious injuries which he sustained because of this traumatic incident has caused him long-term issues which he has to live with on a day-to-day basis.

“Through his own fault, Mercieri will live with the consequences of the decisions he made on that night. Not only the impact it has had on his friend but his own livelihood. He now has a criminal record and no licence for three years.

“Reducing the number of people killed or seriously injured on our roads remains the priority for Northamptonshire Police and our partners at the Northamptonshire Safer Roads Alliance, and I’m pleased the courts have dealt with the driver positively.”

Tragically in 2021, after being involved in a road collision, 29 people never returned home safely to their loved ones, and 280 required urgent medical assistance for serious and life-changing injuries.