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Mexican drink-driver shopped to cops - by his own gobby parakeet

Owner has last laugh after dragging winged pal to jail too

Cops in Mexico City who pulled over a 49-year-old driver for drink-driving were left in no doubt of the poor chap's state when his pet parakeet sang like a canary.

Guillermo "N" was stopped last week at a alcohol checkpoint, cops said, but before he could even get out of the car, a voice from inside trumpeted "Está borracho, está borracho" ("He's drunk, he's drunk").

Officers at first thought someone else was in the vehicle, but a flashlight revealed Mr N's less-than-loyal green-feathered friend as the source of the betrayal.

Sure enough, a breath test proved positive, and before police hauled N off for a short stay in El Centro de Sanciones Administrativas e Integración Social - a "feared" prison known locally as "El Torito" ("The Bluebottle") - the Animal Control Brigade rolled up to take charge of the bird.

However, its owner claimed separation would kill the animal, since they were always together, so the pair were allowed to spend some quality time together in a cell.

Mexico's El Universal notes, undoubtedly correctly, that that this was "the first time" a perp and his parakeet had been banged up together in El Torito. ®

Bootnote

To clarify, a trip to El Torito is obligatory for those who fail alcohol breath tests, and they can be held for up to 36 hours. Other offences which merit a stay in this dedicated facility include street racing and urinating in public.

Although at first glance the prison's nickname appears to mean "Little Bull", we reckon the South American use of "torito" to mean "bluebottle" is correct, since it lies on the site of a former slaughterhouse. Clarification is welcome from any reader with a better grasp of the local lingo, or indeed first-hand experience of El Torito.

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