Award-winning architect Andrew Patterson pleads guilty after his SUV pinned cyclist and left him crushed

Peter Redmond, his partner Anna and their new baby, Kit. He says being pinned under a SUV and being dragged has left him physically and mentally crushed. Photo / Kellie Blizzard

Rider now on the mend as driver pleads guilty to careless-use charge

A cyclist who was severely injured after being pinned under the SUV of one of the country's top architects says the incident crushed him, physically and mentally.

But now Peter Redmond, 36, is on the mend and the birth of his "perfect and awesome" son Kit six weeks ago has given him a huge boost.

In May, it was a typical morning commute to work along Sarsfield St in Auckland's Herne Bay and Mr Redmond had just passed the driveway of Andrew James Campbell Patterson when the award-winning architect ploughed into him from behind in his Porsche SUV.

Yesterday, the 55-year-old appeared in the Auckland District Court, where he initially pleaded not guilty to a charge of careless driving causing injury.

Defence lawyer Michael Lloyd asked for an adjournment so he could enlist the services of an expert to review the police's evidence, but only minutes later, the pair returned to court and Patterson changed his plea to guilty.

Mr Redmond did not know what to make of yesterday's events and said he was also in the dark over what caused the defendant's lapse.

"Just confusion really, utter confusion," he said. "He hit me from behind and carried on driving."

Patterson struck him only 10 metres beyond his driveway and managed to drag the cyclist 20 metres down the road before stopping, Mr Redmond said.

In the moments after the incident, members of the public frantically tried to lift the defendant's vehicle but it eventually took two fire crews using special heavy-lifting gear to free the victim.

"It could have been so much worse," Mr Redmond said. "There were tyre marks all over my helmet."

While he felt lucky to still be here to see his son grow up, he considered himself unlucky, too.

The IT contractor was wearing bright yellow shorts, had lights on his bike and was cycling "like a dad-to-be".

He avoided brain damage but it was just about the only area of his body that was not affected.

There were eight broken bones in his chest, a lacerated liver, dislocated knee, a punctured and collapsed lung and severe abrasions to his hip and shoulder.

Mr Redmond was bedbound for a month, off work for another month and now attends four medical sessions a week.

"The chiropractor is having a field day," he said.

The accident was a huge blow for someone who completed the Auckland triathlon only two months earlier. "I had gone from doing my first triathlon and feeling physically on top of the world, then feeling completely powerless physically, legally and mentally."

With missing so much work and mounting medical bills, he calculated the total cost so far had been more than $28,000.

Yesterday, Patterson passed on his apologies in a written statement. "I'm really sorry about the accident and wish the absolute best for Mr Redmond and his family. It was a horrible reminder of how careful we need to be when driving in Auckland," he said. "We share our roads with cyclists and while we need to fully support making cities safer for cycling, we all need to take responsibility in our cars."

He will be sentenced next month and faces a maximum of three months' imprisonment or a fine of up $4500, with a mandatory six-month driving ban.