Aussie drunk driver threatens cops with snake

Slippery customer

By Lester Haines • Get more from this author

Posted in Music and Media, 17th November 2006 12:18 GMT

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A drunk driver pulled in Australia's Northern Territory made good his escape after threatening officers with a snake, National Nine News reports.

Constable Dale Howe and his partner were on patrol last Saturday night when they saw a car "swerving" across the highway. They pulled the vehicle and breathalised the teenage driver, who tested positive.

According to National Nine News, "everything was proceeding normally until a brown one metre snake suddenly slithered past the car". The sozzled but evidently quick-thinking perp picked up the snake and, as Howe recalled, "grabbed the head and faced it outwards at me".

A shaken Howe admitted: "I thought he was going to throw it at me or something."

The cops threatened to use capiscum spray on the pair, at which point the lad ran off into the darkness, still clutching his reptilian accomplice.

Police are, however, confident the renegade will soon be brought to justice. He's apparently well known to the authorities and once cuffed faces "driving under the influence, assault, and driving an unregistered car" raps. Whether the snake will be charged with aiding and abetting is not noted. ®

Bootnote

National Nine News adds an entertaining footnote regarding another drunk-driving youth hauled before a Darwin magistrate. When asked why he'd driven under the influence, the defendant splendidly replied: "Because I'm a dickhead." "That I can't argue with," agreed the beak.

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