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Supplied/Stuff
A Californian doctor has been charged with dangerous driving after this crash, which left a Queenstown chef with a spinal injury.
A Queenstown chef has spinal injuries, a written-off car and little hope of any compensation after a Californian doctor returned home hours after crashing into her.
Police have charged Raman Sidhar, 73, with driving dangerously causing injury following the January 27 crash.
Chef Sara Duan said she was driving along Frankton Rd at 5am, heading to work at a Queenstown hotel to prepare breakfast, when she saw a vehicle suddenly appear in front of her.
“I thought it was quite unbelievable, like a dream or something, because the vehicle was not in the right lane.
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“I was shaking and at that second I thought ‘oh my god, I can’t avoid that vehicle’.”
As the cars collided she thought she would die.
She got out of her car with the help of a passing taxi driver but was unable to sit down, and had to lie on the road.
The driver and a passenger of the other car got out and stood about 3m away. They asked if she was OK and whether she needed water.
“I was so shaken. There was blood coming from my mouth. I was thinking ‘why do I need water?’” she said.
Debbie Jamieson/Stuff
Raman Sidhar was allegedly on the wrong side of Frankton Rd after exiting his hotel.
Police arrived soon after, and she was taken to the local hospital in an ambulance.
She was treated for a spinal fracture and sent home later that day, but did not hear anything further from police.
“I felt like I was forgotten by police and the whole world.”
With her own car written-off and uninsured – she had just received a warrant of fitness for the 2003 Toyota Corolla – she was keen to organise compensation.
She contacted the police constable involved and was told to call again the next week, when the officer would return to work.
When they made contact on the Wednesday morning, five days after the crash, she was shocked to learn the driver had left the country seven hours after the crash happened.
Police said they needed to wait for a medical certificate confirming she had no alcohol in her system.
A police report shows Duan was found to have no alcohol in her blood.
It also states Sidhar’s vehicle had exited a hotel on Frankton Rd and was in the wrong lane when the crash happened.
Duan was also surprised to learn Sidhar was a doctor.
“Why didn’t he help me? He hit me and ran away and didn’t offer any help,” she said.
Stuff was unable to contact Sidhar, but Queenstown news agency Crux received a comment from his daughter-in-law in her capacity as a lawyer, stating he would not comment.
Ministry of Transport
The Government is working on a road safety strategy to drive substantial improvements in road safety in New Zealand. (Video first published in December 2019)
Duan, 33, was still unable to work due to her back injury.
She was grateful to have received photos and information about the crash from people in Queenstown and was in discussions with Avis car rentals about an insurance claim.
She was also pleased police had charged the driver, albeit about one month after the crash.
“It’s a little bit late … I feel like the driver will not show up in court,” she said.
Sidhar is scheduled to appear in the Queenstown District Court on March 13.
Police said if the defendant did not appear in court, then a warrant would be issued and an alert placed on his name.
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