‘I don’t stop for cops’: Meth-fuelled driver sped into oncoming traffic, rode up footpaths, crashed into police car
Pedestrians had to jump out of the way and cars had to brake abruptly to avoid being hit by the man.
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A meth-fuelled motorbike rider sped into oncoming traffic, rode up footpaths and narrowly avoided pedestrians before smashing straight into a police car in Brisbane’s north, the Sandgate Magistrates Court heard today.
David Aaron Barlow, 31, pleaded guilty to ten charges committed over a two-week period between May 19 and June 1 this year.
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The court heard Barlow rode an orange KTM motorbike without any protective equipment on a footpath in Murrumba Downs on May 19, where police observed him swerving to avoid colliding with pedestrians.
Barlow then drove into the Murrumba Downs McDonald’s car park, through the garden bed and into oncoming traffic, where other cars were forced to brake sharply.
Police prosecutor Troy Newman told the court Barlow proceeded to ride onto another nature strip and into a shopping precinct, where passers-by had to move quickly out of his way.
Police observed Barlow from an unmarked car and saw him making over corrections with his steering, wobbling and only regaining control of the bike by “accelerating heavily into oncoming traffic” once again.
Barlow almost collided with the unmarked police vehicle, ran a red light and then proceeded onto the Bruce Highway where he swerved between cars so erratically it caused traffic to slow in a “ripple effect”, Sgt Newman said.
“He collided with a marked police vehicle in Sandgate,” he said.
“He had glassy eyes and erratic behaviour, and he admitted to using a fair bit of meth.”
A search revealed Barlow had a knife located in his pants.
On this occasion Barlow was charged with driving with a relevant drug present, driving a vehicle while unregistered, uninsured and unlicensed, failure to wear a motorbike helmet and possession of a knife.
Three days before the incident, Barlow posted an image on social media which read, ‘I don’t stop for cops’.
A couple of weeks later, on June 1, Barlow crossed paths with police again in Kurwonbah, near the Dakabin train station.
He was concealing one “large, quite aggressive-looking knife that can be held and used in a number of ways”, three small throwing knives and a small clip seal bag containing methamphetamines.
He was charged with two counts of possession of a knife and possession of a dangerous drug.
Each of the offences occurred while Barlow was on parole for other matters.
The court heard Barlow had a longstanding addiction to drugs that began when he was kicked out of home at 14 and had ultimately cost him both his employment as a mechanic and his freedom.
The drugs caused Barlow to “lose his perception of reality”, leading to “serious offending”.
Barlow was convicted of all 10 charges, disqualified from driving for three years and three months and sentenced to a further 24 months in prison, for which he will be eligible for parole on December 1.