Coroner's Finding: BARBER Jason Troy

20y · Male·Closed head injury

Jason Troy Barber, aged 20, died from severe closed head injuries sustained in a motor vehicle collision on 3 October 2000. He had been driving a stolen vehicle recklessly at high speed through Adelaide, intoxicated with alcohol and cannabis. He collided at speed with another vehicle while running a red light, sustaining massive traumatic brain injury with subarachnoid haemorrhage, cerebral contusions, diffuse axonal injury and brain stem haemorrhage. He was admitted to ICU in a comatose state and certified brain dead within 24 hours. While a police officer pursued the vehicle, the coroner found this pursuit did not cause the death. This case highlights the tragic consequences of impaired high-speed driving and the medical impossibility of surviving severe closed head injury of this magnitude.