A hospitality magnate who ran over a 12-year-old boy on an electric bike with his sports car, knocking him to the ground, was fined $645 and three demerit points.
Gold Coast bar owner Howard Wright, 58, was punished for driving his Audi A5 without due care after the collision at Paradise Point on January 6, which was captured by the boy’s GoPro camera.
Queensland Police defended the decision not to charge him with a more serious offense because they had reviewed the footage in its entirety and claimed the boy had racially abused Mr Wright by calling him ***** shortly before the collision.
Police also added that Wright’s address had been uploaded online and that he had received several threats, which has since sparked a separate investigation.
Australians took to social media in response to the decision to fine Mr Wright alone, arguing the incident was more serious than a traffic offence.
“God help that man if he hits my son like that.” said one commenter.
“That’s stupid,” another viewer wrote, beneath the news, with a clip of the incident on an Instagram account.
“People who say they had right of way shouldn’t have a license,” a third agreed.
Bar owner Howard Wright received a traffic ticket after colliding with a 12-year-old boy riding an electric bike.

Australians were outraged by the punishment and argued that the Gold Coast man should have received a harsher punishment.
On another platform, viewers said they couldn’t understand the paltry $645 fine.
“I don’t understand why he hasn’t been charged with a serious crime,” one said.
“This man has somehow turned gang activity into his head and used it to justify his actions,” said another.
‘Okay, so every time someone verbally insults me, I can run them over in my car and only get a ticket. What a bloody joke,” added a third.
In footage of the incident the 58-year-old man’s Audi A5 can be seen approaching the boy before colliding with his e-bike and sending him flying onto the pavement.
‘What the fuck, I didn’t do anything, I didn’t do anything, I wasn’t even there,’ the boy can be heard screaming.
Wright gets out of the Audi and approaches the boy and responds, “I know you didn’t do anything.” This bike is illegal.
‘I know, but why did you hit me?’ the boy asks.
“You ran in front of my car, I’m sorry,” Wright says.
A nearby woman is heard defending the boy and telling Mr Wright that he is “just a boy”.
“They ring my doorbell every day,” Mr. Wright says, prompting the boy to insist, “I didn’t do it.”

Wright claimed the boy and other youths had been “hitting and running” on his Paradise Point property.
Mr Wright attended Runaway Bay police station shortly after the incident and received an infringement notice for driving without care and attention.
Police at the time said Mr Wright’s Audi “had been driven in a dangerous manner towards a 12-year-old boy from Paradise Point”.
“It is alleged that the vehicle struck the child, knocking him off his bike,” a spokesperson said.
Speaking to the media on Monday, Acting Superintendent Jason Tuffley said there was more to the incident than the images showed.
“Police have reviewed the footage of the child, or child, in its entirety, and this has corroborated with the adult driver’s version of events that he was abused and racially harassed prior to the collision by the child and his associates.” said the law superintendent. Tuffley said, according to news.com.au.
“As a result of this information, and the driver’s subsequent behavior, the fact that he reported it, and the police reviewing the matter in its entirety, it was decided that only a traffic violation would be issued to the driver, which carries a fine of $640 and three demerit points.’
‘I cannot answer the question of all the circumstances in relation to a vehicle hitting a child. Of course, that would not be an appropriate course of action.
Wright is co-director of the company behind The Lounge and Bridges Tapas Bar.
Both are luxury venues in Paradise Point on the Gold Coast.