Angus Liam Crowley faces a Rockhampton court after crashing an E-Scooter while he was drunk

Police officers watched the man after he left a Rockhampton pub and they saw him get flung from an E-Scooter onto the footpath. The man got back on the E-Scooter and kept riding until an unusual thing eventually pulled him up. Full details here.

A man has faced a Rockhampton court for being one of the first people charged for drink-driving an E-Scooter in the city.

It comes after Rockhampton police and E-Scooter company, Neuron, last week issued a public plea for people to scoot safe after police issued a number of infringement notices to riders.

Angus Liam Crowley, 20, pleaded guilty in Rockhampton Magistrates Court on April 8 to drink-driving a personal mobility device.

Police Prosecutor Courtney Brown said on March 17 about 10.35pm, police were conducting observations in an unmarked car in the vicinity of Rockhampton’s Fitzroy Street, when they saw Crowley walking along East Street.

Ms Brown said Crowley was wearing high-visibility work clothing and he appeared to be intoxicated.

“(Crowley) was initially observed to walk towards police before changing direction across a bus laneway and onto Fitzroy St, directly in front of Fitzroy Bridge,” Ms Brown said.

“Police observed (Crowley) to stagger across Fitzroy St before walking down towards Victoria Parade where (he) was lost from sight.”

Ms Brown said about 10.39pm, police saw a bright orange E-Scooter being driven at speed by Crowley.

“From Victoria Parade up to Fitzroy St in an erratic manner,” she said.

“Police observed (Crowley) to be swerving side-to-side in a wild manner before swinging head-first into the gutter, causing (him) to be flung from the E-Scooter onto the footpath.

“Police observed (Crowley) to have difficulty standing back up, before making several attempts to get back onto the E-Scooter, and continuing to ride onto the unbarricaded footpath of the Fitzroy Bridge.”

Ms Brown said Crowley “continued to wind along the footpath” before police attempted to intercept him due to concerns.

“(Crowley) continued riding the E-Scooter, only coming to a halt upon a traffic controller stopping (him) from entering the roadworks side.”

Police spoke to Crowley who said he was unaware that he could be charged for drink-driving an E-Scooter.

“Crowley stated he was trying to do the right thing by leaving his car at the pub and riding the E-Scooter home,” Ms Brown said.

The court heard that Crowley admitted to police that he was “grossly intoxicated” having consumed two jugs of beer as well as six or seven other drinks.

After a random breath test, Crowley returned a blood alcohol reading of .150.

The court was told that Crowley had no criminal history and no traffic history.

Solicitor Samantha Legrady said Crowley was born in New South Wales and he completed Year 12 at North Rockhampton State High School.

Ms Legrady said Crowley had been in full-time employment since completing school and he was currently working as a boilermaker apprentice.

In relation to the drink-driving offence, Ms Legrady said Crowley had gone out with friends for drinks and he left his car at the PA Hotel.

She said Crowley was going to walk home but he saw an E-Scooter.

“He wasn’t on the scooter very long before he had come off,” the solicitor said.

Ms Legrady said Crowley “had no idea, honestly” that he could not ride an E-Scooter while over the limit.

“He thought he was able to, as you don’t need a licence to ride one, and certainly they’re very new in Rockhampton,” she said.

Ms Legrady tendered two references to the court for Crowley - one provided by his employer - which she said spoke very highly of not only his work ethic but also his character.

Ms Legrady added that in the four years Crowley had had his driver’s licence, he had never committed a traffic offence.

“In my submission, Mr Crowley is a very respectful young man,” she said.

Before handing down penalty, Magistrate Jason Schubert said he accepted this offending was completely out of character for Crowley.

“You were three times the legal limit for riding an E-Scooter,” Mr Schubert said.

“People die from riding E-Scooters - both as riders and both as people being struck by E-Scooters, and that’s just from people who are not intoxicated.

“Hopefully this is an expensive lesson for you and other people in the community in relation to the responsibilities of riding E-Scooters.”

Mr Schubert fined Crowley $500 and he exercised his discretion to not record a traffic conviction based on Crowley’s lack of any history.