In 2021, 20-year-old Amber Potter struck and killed 64-year-old David Sinar after taking a selfie to send her boyfriend.
Norfolk PoliceThis is the photo Amber Potter took shortly before she hit and killed David Sinar.
On Sept. 15, 2021, 64-year-old David Sinar bought a new Lambretta scooter. The experienced motorcyclist then hit the road, planning to drive the scooter home from Bournemouth, England. However, while he was traveling on the A11 road in Norfolk, Sinar was struck from behind by 20-year-old Amber Potter — who was checking the selfie she’d just taken for her boyfriend.
Sinar died at the scene. Potter’s trial revealed that she’d sent dozens of messages in the moments leading up to the fatal crash. Now, the young woman has been sentenced to three years and six months behind bars for her crimes.
A ‘Grossly Avoidable Distraction’: Inside The Crash That Killed David Sinar
As Sinar rode home on that fateful September day, Amber Potter was driving to Norfolk from Glastonbury in Somerset. During the trip, the 20-year-old was actively using her phone to take selfies and send text messages and messages through Facebook. The Daily Mail reports that 55 messages were found, including 20 audio clips in which road noise is clearly heard.
Shortly before 9:30 p.m., Potter took a photo of herself winking and sticking out her tongue. Investigators believe she was examining the photo when she drove straight into Sinar, as her last interaction with the phone came 85 seconds before she called for help. Potter was going 70 miles per hour at the time of the crash; Sinar was driving more slowly, around 40 miles per hour.
Due to the lack of skid marks at the scene, it seems that Potter was so distracted that she did not even try to slow down.
Norfolk PoliceDavid Sinar was a cancer survivor who had recently semi-retired to spend more time with his elderly mother.
Sinar died at the scene. Potter told police that his scooter had “come out of nowhere.” According to the BBC, she also denied that she’d been using her phone at the time of the fatal collision.
But Potter changed her story a few years later.
Where Is Amber Potter Today?
At Amber Potter’s trial in 2024, the 23-year-old pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving. She was sentenced to three-and-a-half years behind bars and banned from driving for 45 months. At that point, she will have to retake a driving exam before she can get behind the wheel again.
Norfolk PoliceDavid Sinar’s survivors remembered him as the “glue” that held his family together.
“[Sinar] was there for all drivers to see — all those who had their eyes on the road that is,” the judge, Katharine Moore, said during the trial. She added that Sinar’s family was in “complete devastation” because of Potter’s actions and that “no life can be gauged by the length of a sentence.”
But Sinar’s family felt that Potter’s sentence was too light for the crime.
“Losing Dave has utterly devastated our family,” they said in a statement. “We will never forgive Amber Potter for her selfish actions that night and for her conduct following the accident, and are disappointed with [the] sentence. Maybe now she will realize that life doesn’t revolve around social media, you don’t need to send that message, or take pictures.”
“When you get behind that wheel of your car you are responsible for your actions and, if not, you have to accept the consequences,” the statement continued.
Sinar’s survivors include his wife Joanne, his teenage son, and his 97-year-old mother. They remembered him for his passion for bikes, scooters, and motorcycles and as the “glue that held the family together.”
“I’ve lost my soul mate,” Joanne Sinar said, “no longer having the security of that arm around my shoulder telling me that life is going to be OK.”
After reading about the driver who killed a motorcyclist while using her cell phone, look through these social media challenges that ended in tragedy. Or, read about the chilling murder of Bianca Devins, which her killer broadcast on social media.
