Pentagon officer cleared of seriously injuring Harrogate schoolboys

A US colonel has been cleared of causing serious injury by careless driving following a horrific road crash in which two Harrogate schoolboys were badly injured.

Benjamin Oakes, 46, was in a white Vauxhall Astra which pulled out of a junction at the end of the driveway outside Ashville College and collided with the back end of a Ford Ranger pick-up truck, York Magistrates’ Court heard.

The Ford Ranger, driven by Sam Goodall, had swerved in an attempt to avoid the Astra, which clipped the back of his vehicle.

It caused the truck to spin and career across the road, where it mounted a pavement on the opposite side of Yew Tree Lane into the path of two teenagers who were walking along the footpath.

The truck struck both boys and ploughed through a wall at the edge of the college grounds.

Prosecutor Louise Berry said that at least one of the boys, who were both 15 at the time, was “buried under the debris” and both were seriously included. One of them suffered a horrific leg injury after the truck went “three-quarters way through the wall”.

Months in hospital

Giving evidence, one of the boys, who can’t be named for legal reasons, said:

“We got hit through the wall. I think I got knocked out for a bit. We were in the bushes. I just heard (his friend) scream.”

The boy said the truck hit him and he went onto its bonnet before hitting the wall. He said a large piece of wall landed on his left leg.

The teenager, now 16, said he looked over to his friend who saw his own badly injured leg and started screaming and saying he was going to die.

The boys spent 18 weeks and 22 weeks in hospital respectively. One of them needed extensive operations following the collision at about 8.30am on February 2.

Ms Berry said it was the Crown’s case that Mr Oakes, of Tewit Well Avenue, Harrogate, had caused the accident because he hadn’t checked that the way was clear before pulling out of the junction.

She said Mr Oakes’ Astra had been “edging” out of the junction before pulling out completely into the path of the Ford Ranger.

Benjamin Oakes leaving Harrogate Magistrates Court

Benjamin Oakes

Mr Oakes, chief of the space policy division for the US joint chiefs of staff at the Pentagon, was charged with two counts of causing serious injury by careless driving but denied the allegations.

Yesterday, following a two-day trial, district judge Adrian Lower found the US military chief not guilty of both charges.

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A female motorist who witnessed the collision described Mr Oakes’ driving in the moments before the crash as “aggressive and inpatient”.

She said he appeared to be “in a rush to leave the junction” before the collision with the pick-up driven by Mr Goodall, who said that following the crash Mr Oakes told him: “I didn’t see you.”

She said she thought the Astra had pulled out “a bit too early…and that’s what caused him to hit the back of the truck”. She added:

“I felt like the truck just appeared out of nowhere in the opposite lane to me.”

She then looked to her right and saw the two schoolboys walking along the footpath. She said:

“The truck was in the wall, so I knew it had gone into (the boys).

“I thought at the time that the truck was going really quick. I got out of the car…and saw that the Astra was damaged as well. I think we were all in shock.”

‘No conclusive evidence’

Peter Minnikin, Mr Oakes’ lawyer, said that neither his client, the female motorist nor the injured boys had seen the truck as it approached the “blind” junction and suggested it could have been travelling too fast.

District judge Adrian Lower said he had “no doubt that this was a traumatic, extremely painful experience for (the two schoolboys)” but that he had to consider the case dispassionately.

He noted that it was “extremely difficult” for motorists to turn right at the “blind” junction, partly due to a pillar or old gatepost at the end of the driveway.

He said there was “no conclusive evidence” that the truck had been travelling too fast or above the speed limit.

Mr Lower, who noted that Mr Oakes had been driving in the UK without incident for four years, said there was every possibility that the truck wasn’t visible to any of the motorists or witnesses even after Mr Oakes had pulled out of the junction.

He said that for those reasons he couldn’t be satisfied that Mr Oakes’ driving was careless or fell below the standard of a competent driver.

Mr Lower found Mr Oakes not guilty on both counts and made an order for the defendant’s costs to be paid from public funds.

 

Harrogate school crash: US colonel to face trial next month

The trial of a highly decorated American colonel accused of seriously injuring two schoolboys in a collision in Harrogate is to take place next month.

Benjamin Oakes, 46, of Tewit Well Avenue, Harrogate, is charged with causing injury by careless or inconsiderate driving on Yew Tree Lane on February 2. He has pleaded not guilty.

Two 15-year-old boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons, suffered serious injuries in the collision near Ashville College.

A pick-up trick has crashed into a wall outside Ashville College

The scene on Yew Tree Lane in February.

A two-day hearing is scheduled to begin at York Magistrates Court on December 11, a case management hearing in York was told on Friday. Mr Oakes, who is on unconditional bail, did not attend.

He previously appeared at Harrogate Magistrates Court in August when both he and magistrates opted not to send the case to crown court, where he would have faced a jury trial.

The schoolboys are expected to give evidence via a video link during the trial.

According to his LinkedIn profile, which was taken down before August’s hearing, Mr Oakes is chief of the space policy division for the US joint chiefs of staff at the Pentagon.

The joint chiefs of staff consists of the most senior leaders in the United States Department of Defense, which advises the president.

He was previously a political-military analyst in the space policy division and before that was commander of the operational support squadron in the US Airforce.

Hundreds of US military personnel are stationed at RAF Menwith Hill, near Harrogate.

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Accused in Harrogate schoolboy crash is US chief of space policy

The American accused of causing serious injury to two teenagers in a collision outside a Harrogate school is chief of the space policy division for the US joint chiefs of staff at the Pentagon.

The joint chiefs of staff consists of the most senior leaders in the United States Department of Defense, who advise the president.

Benjamin Oakes, 46, of Tewit Well Avenue, Harrogate, is a highly decorated colonel in the US military, according to his LinkedIn profile, which was taken down before yesterday’s hearing.

The profile said he has held his current role, which involves directing space policy for the joint chiefs of staff at the Pentagon in Washington, for more than four years.

He was previously a political-military analyst in the space policy division and before that was commander of the operational support squadron in the US Airforce.

Hundreds of US military personnel are stationed at RAF Menwith Hill, near Harrogate.

Mr Oakes pleaded not guilty yesterday to causing serious injury to two teenagers in a collision outside a Harrogate school.

He is charged with causing injury by careless or inconsiderate driving in the incident on Yew Tree Lane on February 2.

The court heard the two 15-year-old boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons, suffered serious injuries in the collision outside Ashville College.

Both he and magistrates opted not to send the case to crown court, where he would have faced a jury trial.

The trial will be heard a York Magistrates Court, provisionally on December 4 and 5.

Mr Oakes was released on unconditional bail.

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