TEARFUL NEW ZEALAND TEEN SENTENCED FOR DRAGGING COP 40 METERS

A teenager who hit the accelerator when a police officer reached for the keys of her car has been sentenced to community service. The injuries Senior Constable Sean Hurley suffered from being dragged along by the car for 43m will affect his health forever and he has not returned to work.

Sandy Maree Graham, 18, labourer, of Wanaka, was convicted of three charges in Queenstown District Court, the Southland Times reported. Graham's mother described her as "the world's best liar" but the tearful teenager told the court she was not a bad person. Judge Dominic Flatley sentenced Graham to concurrent sentences of 300 hours community work on the charges of driving with an excess breath alcohol level and dangerous driving.

She was disqualified from driving for 14 months and ordered to pay more than $3000 reparation to the Queenstown Lakes District Council and the Bullock Creek Lodge. Graham was also sentenced to nine months supervision and compelled to undergo drug and alcohol counselling. There was no sentence on a conviction for failure to stop for an enforcement officer.