Driver mounted Wakefield pavement to mow down man armed with baseball bat in 'ongoing feud'
A driver tried to mow down a man armed with a baseball bat on a Wakefield street over a long-running feud.
Jeremiah Price was jailed for driving at bat-wielding Antony Dawson during the “nasty and frightening” incident on Painthorpe Lane in Crigglestone.
The pair both admitted affray, with 22-year-old Price also admitting dangerous driving.
Footage of the clash was played before Leeds Crown Court this week showing Price in the passenger seat of a Peugeot car that pulled up outside the Best-one shop at around 2.50pm on July 29, 2023.
The driver went into the shop, but then Price was then seen climbing into the driver seat as 32-year-old Dawson approached and pulled up in a Ford Transit.
Dawson then got out with the bat and approached the Peugeot gesticulating. Price drove off and turned the car around, before driving at speed towards Dawson, who dived out of the way as Price mounted the pavement and scraped along the side of the van.
Price then turned around as Dawson continued to beckon him, with the Peugeot being driven directly at him again.
He dived out of the way again, falling to the floor again, but this time threw the bat through the window as the Peugeot passed by.
Price then got out with the bat and chased Dawson around his van before they both ran off in different directions.
The police were called and Price was arrested after he returned to the scene. Dawson was arrested the next day.
The court heard that Dawson, of Holmsley Lane, Brierley, has four previous convictions for eight offences.
Price, of Church Lane, Ellis Laithe, Wakefield, has eight previous convictions for 16 offences, and is currently serving a sentence. He appeared in court this week via video link from HMP Leeds.
Mitigating for Dawson, Erin Kitson-Parker said there was “long-running bad feeling” between the pair. She said he accepted that he lost his temper and had “genuine remorse”.
She said Dawson worked as a dog trainer and had lost his van and equipment which was confiscated by the police and later crushed.
She added that it was a difficult time for the family due to a member’s ill health.
Ms Kitson-Parker said of the incident: “It’s very childish behaviour. It arises from nothing serious. It’s hugely foolish.”
For Price, Jonathan Turner said his client maintained there was no difficulties between him and Dawson, but said there were issues with Price coming from a traveller family.
He conceded that Price “overreacted wholly” during the confrontation. He said that he was finding it difficult in prison due to his family name and had asked to be put in isolation.
Judge Penelope Belcher told the defendants: “It’s a nasty and frightening offence and was extraordinary to watch.”
Addressing Dawson she added: “That behaviour was completely childish and unacceptable - running around wielding a baseball bat in public.”
She said whatever the feud and whoever started it was “neither here nor there”. She gave him 21 weeks’ jail suspended for 12 months with 150 hours of unpaid work to complete.
For Price, she told him: “It was quite frankly appalling and very fortunate there was no serious injury to anybody. You used it [the car] as a weapon.”
She gave him a 10-month jail sentence and a 17-month driving ban.