Drunk driver blows 0.173 after refusing roadside test

A Grafton man repeatedly refused to submit to a roadside breath test after he was pulled over by police, before threatening an officer when he was arrested

A Grafton man has faced court for high range drink driving and refusing to submit to a breath test.

A Grafton man has faced court after he was arrested for drunk driving, then refusing to submit to a roadside breath test when stopped by police before threatening an officer while he was being taken into custody.

Clint Andrew White appeared in Grafton Local Court on Monday where he was convicted after pleading guilty to destroy/damage property, drive with high range PCA and refusing to submit to a breath test.

According to court documents about 11.30pm January 16 this year White and his partner were staying at a hotel in Wooli when an argument broke out between the two, and White smashed a window in the room.

A member of the public from a neighbouring room heard the disturbance and called police. The court heard he provided a name of the suspect and a description of a vehicle, saying that he had left the hotel. Around half an hour later police were driving to the scene when they passed a silver sedan that matched a description of the vehicle provided to police by the neighbour.

 

 

Court documents state police did a U-turn, caught up to the car and pulled it over. White gave police a licence that matched the details provided by the witness, and police noticed that White had slurred speech, bloodshot eyes and bleeding on his knuckles.

White refused multiple requests to take a breath test, asking officers for a light of his cigarette before failing to blow into the machine, then blowing too hard and failing to provide a sufficient breath sample.

After the third failed attempt White was arrested for the purposes of a breath analysis, but he refused to get out of the car. Eventually White was removed from the vehicle, where he began yelling at police, saying "you're going to get it c---, I know where you live". White was eventually placed in the rear of the vehicle and taken to Grafton Police Station where he returned a reading of 0.173.

In court on Monday magistrate Kathy Crittenden sentenced White to a community correction order and a conditional release order for 12 months. As a condition of the sentence, White was ordered to comply with directions regarding domestic violence education and ongoing mental health treatment, as well as attend and complete a sober drivers program. White was also disqualified from holding any driver's licence for nine months, and fined $200.

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