Family of teen killed in road rage smash urge judge not to jail young driver responsible

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The devastated family of a teen who lost his life in a road rage incident have urged a judge not to jail the young driver responsible.Jay Morrison, 19, died when his car spun out of control and smashed into a lamp-post following an argument with Bill McKenzie, 21 who was speeding in another car.Heating engineer McKenzie was last week convicted of causing Jay’s death by ­dangerous driving.

But the victim’s parents accept their son’s role in the incident and believe a jail term would just inflict more pain.Both young men had recently passed their driving tests when the crash unfolded in Pollok, Glasgow, in September 2021.

Jay undertook McKenzie in his Vauxhall Corsa and began gesticulating to him and his two passengers.Glasgow High Court heard McKenzie, of ­Barrhead, Renfrewshire – who was also behind the wheel of a Vauxhall Corsa – then drove in excess of the speed limit and in “close proximity” of Jay.

He braked to allow Jay to come back into the same lane and get by temporary roadworks.But seconds later Jay, also from Barrhead, lost control and his car spun and hit the kerb.The vehicle then smacked into a bus stop, ploughed into a verge and collided with a ­lamp-post, which fell on to the Corsa’s roof.In a rare move, Jay’s family appealed to judge Lady Poole to show leniency towards McKenzie so “no further pain is caused” following the teen’s tragic death.Advocate Depute Gavin Dewar said: “While sentencing is always discretionary for the judge, the Crown, perhaps unusually, respectfully invites your ­Ladyship to have regard for the views of the next of kin when considering the ­appropriate disposal in this most upsetting case.