Cop acquitted of Woodend road death

By Whitney Harris
Updated November 7 2012 - 4:50am, first published May 5 2011 - 12:11pm
NOT GUILTY: Peta Carbonneau, second from left, has been acquitted of dangerous driving causing death.
NOT GUILTY: Peta Carbonneau, second from left, has been acquitted of dangerous driving causing death.

AN off-duty police officer who killed a Woodend motorcyclist in an early-morning crash two years ago has been acquitted.Peta Carbonneau, a Victoria Police officer for almost 10 years, left the Bendigo County Court, sitting in Ballarat, a free woman yesterday after the jury found her not guilty of dangerous driving causing death.The 35-year-old senior constable was charged over the death of 31-year-old Woodend man Luke Wilson on April 20, 2009.The court was told that Carbonneau, also of Woodend, crossed double white lines while performing a U-turn in fog when she hit the motorcyclist travelling south along Black Forrest Drive. Mr Wilson died at the scene.During a committal hearing in the Bendigo Magistrates Court last October, John Beesley, who was first at the scene, told the court he had driven along Black Forrest Drive almost every day for the past 10 years.He said the road was notorious for its fluctuating weather conditions and that on the morning of the accident it was the foggiest he had seen all year. Carbonneau, a senior constable at Sunbury, was on her way to work when she realised she had forgotten a batch of cup cakes at home and decided to turn around to get them. The magistrates court was told that she believed she had sufficient time to perform the U-turn and was shocked when she heard an object hit her car. Senior Constable Glen Urquhart, of the major collision investigation unit, said the motorcyclist was travelling at 80 to 97km/h before the collision. Neither Carbonneau nor the rider were affected by drugs or alcohol at the time.Black Forest Drive has a speed limit of 90km/h where the accident occurred.

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