A POLICE officer broke a cyclist's wrist minutes away from a town's police station as he made his way to work.
Mark Godfrey Turner, 57, of Barrow, denied a charge of driving without due care and attention, but was found guilty at Furness Magistrates' Court today.
He was handed four penalty points but avoided losing his licence.
Turner was on his way to work at Barrow Police Station at 8.40pm on September 7 last year when he collided with cyclist Daniel Grady as he turned right off Park Road on to Phoenix Road.
Mr Grady was left with a broken wrist and fractured ribs after hitting the rear passenger side of Turner's Ford Kuga, with £200 worth of damage being caused to the bicycle, a two-month old Merlin road bike worth £929.
He told the court: "I saw the car and thought, in the back of my mind, 'he is going to go'.
"I had a feeling so I reacted and slammed the brakes on. I tried slowing down but I couldn't do it in time."
Turner repeatedly denied seeing the cyclist as he approached the junction, where the court heard he slowed down to let a car pass but did not stop completely, despite two witnesses in cars waiting behind the defendant claiming to have seen Mr Grady approach.
District judge Gerald Chalk did, however, credit Turner for his response to the accident, where he checked on Mr Grady's welfare before phoning the emergency services, with police on the scene in minutes.
As well as the penalty points, Turner was ordered to pay court costs of £750, a fine of £300 and a victim surcharge of £30.
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