Hit-run driver sentenced for 2022 crash at White Hill

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A hit-and-run driver will spend at least 12 months in prison after seriously injuring a motorcyclist in a crash at White Hill.

Retired jockey Paul Anthony Logan was sentenced in Adelaide’s District Court last Tuesday for driving without due care, causing serious harm and leaving the scene of an accident on November 6, 2022.

Logan had drunk at least six beers during the day and had two cans of whisky and dry at the Swanport Hotel prior to the crash, which occurred at the intersection of the Old Princes Highway and Adelaide Road at White Hill around 5pm.

He was also driving on a suspended licence.

His failure to give way at the T-junction caused motorcyclist William Cooper to crash into his car, bounce off and crash through a streetlight, which was broken out of the ground.

Cooper received life-threatening injuries, including a fractured pelvis and ribs, a collapsed lung and internal bleeding.

Logan’s Hyundai i30 was spun around 90 degrees, but he failed to stop and kept driving into Murray Bridge as if nothing had happened.

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An eyewitness, Matthew Scanlon, followed in his car and pulled up behind Logan at the Maurice Road traffic lights.

When the lights went green, Logan reversed his car into Scanlon’s ute, then drove off again.

Undeterred, Scanlon followed Logan and was able to block him in a dead-end street and take his car keys away.

Logan managed to get out of the car and escape.

His daughter brought him to the Murray Bridge police station almost four hours later, at which point he blew 0.232 – almost seven times the legal limit – in a breath test.

Thumbs-up claim didn’t match eyewitness accounts

Logan told police later that night that he had driven past Cooper, the motorcyclist, to see how he was doing, and that Cooper had given him a thumbs-up before he drove off.

He also told police he had only had one drink prior to the crash, and that he thought his licence suspension had expired.

None of those claims was true, District Court Judge Carmen Matteo said.

His licence had only been suspended in a hearing at Murray Bridge Magistrates Court two months earlier, and he also had a previous conviction for drink driving in Victoria.

“Panic explains, but does not excuse, what you did,” she said.

“You chose to drive on to look after yourself, without regard for the welfare of Mr Cooper.”

However, the judge also took into account the fact that Logan had since apologised to his victim and had stopped drinking alcohol.

Judge Matteo sentenced Logan to two years, one month and 29 days in jail, with a non-parole period of 12 months.

She also disqualified from driving for 13 years from the date of his release.