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Jury hears 911 call by driver

Tracey Pitt, 51, from Devonshire, charged with two counts of causing grievous bodily harm by driving while impaired, is shown leaving Supreme Court 3 with her lawyer, Victoria Pearman.

A Supreme Court jury heard a recording of a desperate 911 call made by a woman on trial following a road crash that left twin brothers hospitalised.Tracey Pitt, 51, from Devonshire, is charged with two counts of causing grievous bodily harm by driving while impaired.Prosecutors allege that she crashed into Randolph (Randy) and Rudolph (Rudy) Smith, 36, while driving along Woodlands Road in the early hours of February 29 last year.The two men were dragged several feet along the road following the impact, and their blood and flesh was later discovered on the front and underside of Ms Pitt’s damaged car.Ms Pitt made the 911 call from her cell phone immediately following the accident as the brothers lay unconscious and bleeding in the road.The call, which was recorded by police, was played to the jury by prosecutor Takiyah Burgess.For the first several seconds a hysterical Ms Pitt could be heard crying uncontrollably and occasionally screaming: “Help, help.”She then regained her composure and explained that she had been driving when she “felt something”.“They’re lying in the road and they’re like, dead,” she told the 911 controller.“I was just driving along BAA and I felt something and I looked up and, oh my God, there are two guys lying down. They look like they’re dead.”Ms Pitt was heard asking for an ambulance, adding: “Obviously I have to stay here and wait for them.”The brothers were taken to hospital with extensive injuries.The police officer leading the investigation, Tavoris Douglas, earlier told the court that the foot of one of the victims was “just hanging on by a piece of flesh”.Although the two men were eventually released from hospital, Randy Smith can now only walk with the aid of a crutch and neither man can remember anything about the accident.Continuing his testimony yesterday, Pc Douglas said that officers are trained to look out for four signs of possible driver impairment in suspects — bloodshot eyes, slurred speech, the smell of intoxicants and unsteadiness.Questioned by Ms Burgess, Pc Douglas said that he could smell alcohol on Ms Pitt’s breath when he approached her at the scene. He also noticed her stumble at one point.“I never asked if she had been drinking because the smell of alcohol was fairly strong,” he said.But when questioned by defence lawyer Victoria Pearman, Pc Douglas admitted that Ms Pitt was “crying uncontrollably” when he arrived at the scene, and that this could have caused her to have bloodshot eyes.Ms Pearman also suggested that a person could smell of intoxicants after just a single sip of alcohol, and that a smell of alcohol does not provide proof of impairment, to which the officer agreed.Pc Douglas also acknowledged that he did not at any time witness “speech slur” from Ms Pitt, and that, after seeing the defendant stumble shortly after he arrived at the scene, she remained steady on her feet afterwards, even when handcuffed and walking in high heeled boots.Pc Douglas also said that, when initially questioned, Ms Pitt said she was willing to give a breath test.The prosecution maintains that Ms Pitt admitted to drinking two glasses of red wine earlier in the evening, but when she eventually arrived at Hamilton Police Station, she refused to give a breath sample.And the officer also confirmed that he investigated one witness tip-off that the brothers had been seen lying in the road fighting shortly before they were hit.The trial continues today.