Burnhope man jailed after ramming taxi with his car 
DRUNK and filled with rage, danger driver David Rutherford rammed a taxi with his car as the cabbie's terrified passengers screamed with horror.
Craig Turnbull could not believe what was happening when menace Rutherford drove straight at him just after cutting across his taxi in Newcastle city centre.
Not content with smashing into the vehicle twice, Rutherford then got a saw out of the boot of his car and waved it in front of horrified onlookers.
Now he is beginning an 18-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to dangerous driving.
Taxi driver Craig said: “I felt like I was watching a movie. I was just thinking ‘Is this really happening?’
“I didn’t know what to do.”
Craig, who has been a cabbie for five years, had picked up two couples from the Bigg Market shortly before 10pm on February 11 and was taking them home when he encountered Rutherford.
Swigging from a can of lager as he drove, the 36-year-old cut across Craig’s vehicle as he passed Tup Tup Palace on Saint Nicholas’ Street, forcing him to break sharply.
And when the dad-of-three pulled over to check his customers were ok, Rutherford pulled alongside in his Astra.
Craig, 41, said: “My window was already open so I said ‘Look mate, you can’t be drinking that when you’re driving’.
“But then he just started swearing at me.”
As Craig, from Felling, Gateshead, opened his door to get out he suddenly realised Rutherford was about to drive at him.
He said. “I jumped back in the car and the girls in the back were screaming.”
Rutherford drove into the driver’s side of the cab, smashing the door off.
He then manoeuvred and reversed at speed into the front of the taxi.
Craig said: “You see a lot of road rage, but you would never expect it to go that far. I have seen things like that on the television, but you never expect it to happen to you.”
Newcastle Crown Court heard how after ramming Craig’s cab, Rutherford, of Whitehouse Avenue, in Burnhope, County Durham, then got the saw out the boot of his car and began waving it around menacingly.
Joined by a doorman from the Empress pub, Craig chased his attacker. They eventually found him hiding in a taxi queue on the Quayside. They then alerted police and he was arrested.
Dad-of-two Rutherford, who is a joiner by trade, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and driving with excess alcohol.
Jailing him, Judge Roger Thorn said: “I have to send you to prison.
“This incident amounts to road rage. You picked trouble with a taxi driver who was without blame.
“You are very lucky not to be charged with assault.”
source:
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/
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