A teenage passenger died in a Scarsdale car collision minutes after a police pursuit was called off, a court has been told.
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The 17-year-old female was travelling in a Ford Telstar sedan when it collided with a Toyota Hilux at the Glenelg Highway and Old Glenelg Highway intersection on January 6.
Court documents obtained by The Courier alleges the driver of the Telstar did not stop on the Old Glenelg Highway when directed by police three to four minutes prior to the fatal collision.
The driver then allegedly failed to give way and entered the Glenelg Highway, crashing head-on with the Hilux.
Anthony Dixon was allegedly driving the Telstar while unlicensed after he consumed cannabis, and may have been adversely affected, court documents show.
Dixon, 34, fronted the Ballarat Magistrates’ Court for a committal hearing on Wednesday.
Detective Sergeant Colin Schmidt of the Major Collision Investigation Unit told the court the police pursuit was called off at 4.54pm or 4.55pm. He said the collision occurred between 4.59pm to 5pm, based on phone calls to triple-0.
Dixon’s defence lawyer Phillip Bloemen asked Detective Sergeant Schmidt whether police were investigating if a pursuit had been a contributing factor to the collision, to which he replied "yes".
The driver of the Toyota Hilux involved in the collision told the court he saw another vehicle travelling at a fast speed and he did not believe it was slowing down.
"I couldn't see anything until he was on the road I was travelling on," Darcy Grundell said.
He said he was towing a trailer loaded with timber and was carrying two passengers, his mother and her partner.
All three were injured and taken to Ballarat Base Hospital.
Rosemary Grundell told the court she saw a look of horror on the face of the Telstar’s driver seconds before the collision.
"(Darcy) yelled out 'look out', he started going to the left. It looked like (the Telstar) was going to overshoot us," Ms Grundell said.
"He just turned straight into us."
On Wednesday Dixon pleaded not guilty to 10 charges, including culpable driving, driving in a dangerous manner causing death, failing to stop on police request, failing to give way, driving an unregistered car and unlicensed driving.
Dixon was committed to stand trial in the County Court. A directions hearing will be held on August 10.