Tourist who crashed near Murchison then left NZ was over the limit

An American tourist who was convicted of dangerous driving for hitting an oncoming car while driving on the wrong side of the road was allowed to leave the country, even though police were still waiting for the results of a blood alcohol test.

Now, those results are back and they show Brett Douglas Reck had been drinking before the crash - but it’s unclear whether he will face additional charges.

The police confirmed to Open Justice this week, after a request under the Official Information Act, that Reck was driving with a blood alcohol level exceeding the legal limit, but they did not say by how much.

They also wouldn’t say whether they were considering laying further charges.

Nelson lawyer Steven Zindel, who was not involved in the case, told NZME it was possible a charge could still be laid by the police in relation to the blood alcohol level, even though the defendant had left the country.

“It would then be a question of service of the charge on the overseas defendant,” Zindel said.

Penalties for drink-drive offending ranged from an infringement notice to prison, fines and disqualification, depending on the level of alcohol and circumstances.

Reck, a 42-year-old finance company manager from Washington DC, had been in New Zealand on a three-week holiday with his wife and young child. Just before 10pm on January 12 he crashed into another vehicle while driving on the Shenandoah Highway, State Highway 65, near Murchison, and ended up in hospital.

He’d been driving his rented Toyota on the wrong side of the road for at least 10 minutes, despite warnings from other drivers to correct his driving.

Reck was taken to hospital to be checked for injuries and blood was taken for analysis of blood alcohol level.He delayed his scheduled return flight to the US to appear in court the following Monday, when he was convicted on a charge of dangerous driving, fined $1500 and disqualified from driving for 15 months.

The police had sought bail that would have prevented him from leaving the country, to allow them to investigate whether his driving had been affected by alcohol and the possibility a drink-drive charge might follow.

Police said Reck appeared at the scene to be intoxicated. His lawyer John Sandston said Reck had told him he had been drinking alcohol beforehand, which meant he may well lose his insurance cover.

He added that Reck faced losing his job if he was delayed longer and he and his wife’s young child was high-needs and required both parents for around-the-clock care.

The police conceded Reck’s family were likely to encounter hardships should he be forced to remain in New Zealand and that his wife was unable to fly home alone with their high-needs young child.

Judge Tony Zohrab said in convicting him on the charge of dangerous driving that it was an “appalling piece of driving” that was not a momentary incursion but a long period in which other people had been put at risk.

He said despite the court being asked to put off Reck’s departure so the matter could be finalised, it was unclear how long that might take and left it to Reck to resolve the issue of personal liability.

The court sought proof he had deposited close to $26,000 into a lawyer’s trust account as a contribution towards reparation, of which a final amount was yet to be determined.

Specialist drink-drive lawyer Alistair Haskett said the consequences of a conviction might transcend a court-imposed penalty and could impact someone’s driver’s licence (through a disqualification), employment, insurance, travel and immigration.

He said drivers with a level above 50 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood but not over 80mg would be deemed to have committed an infringement offence, which attracted demerit points and may have further adverse consequences.

Haskett said the maximum penalty for a first or second conviction for excess blood alcohol over 80mg is three months’ imprisonment or a fine up to $4500 plus mandatory disqualification for at least six months unless special reasons or certain other provisions applied.

Zindel said in a serious case an overseas defendant could be extradited from a sympathetic jurisdiction.

“Otherwise, if an overseas defendant failed to take part in the case, there could be a warrant to lie within Customs if he ever returned to the country again.”

It comes as another American tourist has appeared in the Nelson District Court for drink driving.

Matthew Nardella was fined $500 and disqualified from driving for six months after admitting a drink-drive charge yesterday, after a recent dinner out in Marlborough during which he drank wine.

The 43-year-old, who was on holiday with his wife, was stopped at a routine police checkpoint in Brightwater while driving south through the Tasman District, and blew a reading of 463 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath.