Former Olympian Dave Rodger confronted by driver who nearly killed him at roadworks site

Finn Higgins is in the dock at Hamilton Superior Court.
Photograph: New Zealand Herald/ Belinda Feek

A former Olympian who was seriously injured by a man who ran him over at a road construction site in Waikato is now ready to focus on his rehabilitation after the driver was sent to prison.

Olympic rower Dave Rodger was senior traffic management supervisor at Fulton Hogan on Jan. 11 this year; Matamata man Finn Higgins raced onto the pitch after an argument at a nearby wheelie bin, crashing through machinery and knocking over road cones. business.

Several road workers restrained Higgins until he calmed down after he pulled him over and “some level of altercation” ensued.

She then returned to her car, which included her two young children, and turned around and drove back into the site before deliberately running at Rodger, who was standing in what traffic management called a “dead zone”.

The dead zone is the area up to 30 meters away, immediately after which traffic is cordoned off.

Higgins narrowly missed another worker and dad-of-three Rodger took the brunt of the impact and was thrown about 10 meters backwards into the air.

His injuries were so severe that Crown attorney Jacinda Hamilton told Judge Gerard Van Bohemen in the Hamilton Superior Court this morning that police were prepared to launch a murder investigation.

But thanks to his persistence and the strength of his fitness, the 69-year-old managed to walk into the courtroom with the help of crutches and tell Higgins what he had been through in the last nine months.

Dave Rodger outside the Hamilton Superior Court after attending the sentencing of Finn Higgins with his wife Dianne.
Photograph: New Zealand Herald/ Belinda Feek

Rodger’s body was riddled with fractures as well as numerous internal injuries, many of which would stay with him for life.

“With the immediate intervention of medical personnel, they put me in the ‘lucky to be here’ category,” he said.

“Due to nerve damage in my right leg, I cannot move in a controlled manner in my right foot and toes, and I experience numbness and uncontrolled pain.

“It wasn’t like I thought I would spend the rest of my life relying on walking aids or a mobility scooter.”

He spent four months in the hospital and often had surgery every two days.

“The process of relearning, of getting back on my feet, was the most painful experience in my life, and the energy it took to walk 20 meters was beyond what I was capable of.”

He now faces a recovery period of up to three years with no guarantee of a full recovery.

We speak out for ‘at risk’ road workers

Outside court, Rodger said he was in court to tell his story on behalf of all road workers who are constantly put at risk.

He said he didn’t like it when someone “was locked up for so long for a stupid act, but it was his choice.”

“It’s not a closure because everything is still going on but it just means I can concentrate on my own rehab.

“The point is… road workers are at risk every day from random things like this. Temporary speed limits and things like that are there for a reason, and if everyone slows down… then people like me won’t do it.” “I don’t participate in helicopter rides.”

While Rodger competed in the 1976 Olympics, he and his wife Dianne, a runner, competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, becoming the first husband and wife to compete for New Zealand at the same Olympic Games.

‘I will kill you’

The background to the incident was that Higgins had signed a 12-month contract with Wheelie Bin Services in Waharoa to collect wheelie bin litter.

He returned to the company’s office in Mowatt St on January 10 this year and asked a member of staff for a refund due to financial constraints.

The victim said he could not give her a refund because he did not have the authority to approve it and asked her to return to the office the next day to speak with her supervisor.

Higgins returned the next day with her two children to speak to the manager, but when she returned the first victim said her boss had just left.

Hearing the news, Higgins immediately opened fire and began yelling and screaming at the victim, telling him he was “going to kill him” and yelling “Sieg heil”.

Another employee signaled for help to one of the new truck drivers.

Higgins got out, walked up to her and punched her hard in the neck with her closed fist, causing her to fall onto a nearby car, then walked back to her car with her children. He backed into a parked truck and then took off at high speed.

He then threw himself onto Dunlop Rd and a short time later angrily attacked Rodger.

Crown attorney Hamilton pressed for an eight-year starting point for the charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and committing an offense during probation, with enhancements for additional charges.

“This is an incident where the defendant targeted an unknown and defenseless road worker who was coming towards him in a completely unprovoked attack, causing him life-threatening and permanent injury.

“His life will never be the same.”

Hamilton emphasized that this was a situation in which Rodger was a road worker undertaking an inherently dangerous job and one in which road users were heavily dependent on complying with safety measures and speed on the job site.

“He had done everything he could to make sure he was safe. He had moved out of the driver’s way into the so-called ‘dead zone,’ where he had the right to feel protected,” he said.

“The truth is that she was completely defenseless when the defendant chose to turn towards her.”

‘He was in a drug-induced rage’

Defense lawyer Charles Bean handed the court a letter of regret from Higgins, saying although he arrived late it did not mean he was any less valuable.

While Bean acknowledged Rodger was defenseless, he said the situation was more like a pedestrian being hit by a vehicle.

He asked the judge not to include being vulnerable due to his profession as an aggravating factor.

“This is still a comparison between a pedestrian and a motor vehicle and the pedestrian will always come second best and that is tragic but because of his profession I would urge you not to count him twice.

“I call it drug-induced rage, and so does my client.”

Higgins had come off his ADHD medication and was abusing drugs and was “going through a period of extreme violence resulting from his substance use.”

But Hamilton told Judge Van Bohemen that a blood test showed only cannabis was in Higgins’ system at the time and “nothing else”.

‘I’m trying to be a better Christian’

Judge Van Bohemen described Higgins’ actions that day as “appalling” and considers himself lucky that Rodger is now alive.

Higgins told the report writer before sentencing that the wheelie bin company was “being unfair because they don’t like your partner’s family”.

“You say it’s a drug-induced rage. Blood tests don’t support that.”

Higgins reported that he was now “trying to be a better Christian” but the judge said he had a criminal history of violent crimes and that should be taken into account.

Judge Van Bohemen sentenced Higgins to six years and one month in prison and was disqualified from driving for two years, effective after his release from prison.

This story was first published by The Guardian. New Zealand Herald.