A DRIVER who ran down a man as he lay on a grass embankment has been cleared of dangerous driving, but convicted of the lesser charge of careless driving.
Trevor Kellett, 22, of Highfield Road, Shiney Row, near Sunderland, was driving a friend's car at the Claremont Drive recreation area, in Shiney Row, last September 8, He hit Paul Rumney, but did not realise until after the impact.
At Newcastle Crown Court yesterday, he was fined £250 and disqualified from driving for two years.
He said: "I must have been distracted by a gear change or something like that."
A friend, who was sitting in the back, shouted: "You've hit something," he said.
Kellett said he had stopped the car as soon as he realised.
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