A road rage incident which left a Paralympian with serious injuries has resulted in a man being sentenced to 12 months of supervision, and two months of community detention.
Eltje Malzbender was among the medals in Zurich at the Para-Cycling Road World Championships. Picture by Ed Sykes.
Brian David Mills, 57, of Tamahere appeared in the Hamilton District Court on Thursday last week before Judge Tini Clark having earlier pleaded guilty to charges of dangerous driving causing injury and failing to stop or ascertain injury after a crash, the Waikato Times has reported
The case dated back to March 2020. The court heard Mills was driving a van when he encountered two cyclists on Peake Rd near Cambridge then drove into their path and hit his brakes.
Professional rider Eltje Malzbender, who was training for the Tokyo Paralympics, could not stop her three-wheeled racing cycle before crashing into the back of the van.
The 63-year-old Cambridge based athlete is a former Te Kūiti physiotherapist.
Malzbender and her training partner had been riding in single file when Mills approached them from behind and, from some distance, started to continuously sound his vehicle’s horn.
He then overtook the two cyclists while still sounding the horn, before pulling in front of the pair and slowing considerably. He then leaned out of the driver’s side window and yelled at them to get off the road. Mills moved his van closer to the left side of the road and further into the cyclists’ path before braking heavily.
Eltje Malzbender
Malzbender fell and came to rest face down on the road and Mills drove off, his van’s tyres screeching on the tar seal, the Waikato Times reported.
The cyclist suffered scratches to her nose, a deep graze to her left elbow, grazes to her knees, a deep bruise to her right thigh and pain in her neck and back. Her helmet, and cycling attire were damaged and her prescription glasses were also bent and scratched.
Judge Clark also ordered Mills to pay Malzbender $3000 in reparation.
A victim statement from Malzbender said the incident had a lasting physical and psychological impact.
Judge Clark described a restorative justice conference Mills attended with his victim as a mixed bag.
She said he accepted responsibility and had showed remorse but that was “diminished by his insistence this was all a terrible accident”.
“It’s clear that on this day his vehicle and his wishes took precedence over everything else, including this victim.”
In March 2016 Malzbender was left for dead on the side of a road while out on a training run near Marokopa.
She suffered a traumatic brain injury in that incident, which left her with a range of ailments including loss of short term memory, loss of co-ordination and loss of the ability to speak.
She continued to ride and won two gold medals representing New Zealand in the 2019 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships in Holland.
Eltje Malzbender out training on the road.
