Nine news boss Darren Wick charged with high range drink driving
Channel 9 news director Darren Wick has apologised to colleagues after a moment of “unacceptable madness” that saw him arrested for high range drink driving.
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A long lunch and work drinks for 60 Minutes led to Channel 9 news director Darren Wick being arrested for driving four times over the legal alcohol limit.
In an email to colleagues, the longstanding boss of news at the station apologised for a moment of “unacceptable madness” that saw him charged with high range drink driving on Friday night.
Mr Wick was about five blocks from Nine’s former Willoughby headquarters when he was pulled over by police near the intersection of Pensurst Street and Mowbray Road.
“Just before 6.30pm, a Jeep Grand Cherokee was stopped … due to the (alleged) manner of driving,” a NSW Police spokeswoman said. “The driver, a 57-year-old man, was subjected to a roadside breath test, returning (an alleged) positive result. He was arrested and taken to Chatswood Police Station where a breath analysis returned an alleged reading of 0.227.”
Mr Wick’s licence was suspended and he will appear at Hornsby Local Court on November 26.
He is understood to have been driving home after enjoying a long lunch earlier in the day before stopping by Nine’s Artarmon Road offices with 60 Minutes staff to mark the network moving its headquarters to North Sydney.
In an email to staff, Mr Wick said: “Last Friday evening, I stupidly jumped behind the wheel of my car drunk and attempted to drive home. I was pulled over by police in Willoughby and tested positive to high range drink driving, more than four times over the legal limit.
“I was subsequently charged and will soon face court to pay for my actions.”
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Mr Wick said he had since replayed the events of the night over in his head to see what made him “snap” and found “there was no rational reason for me to do this.”
“The answer is that I have face the reality that I have an addiction to alcohol that I have been struggling to control for some time.”
Mr Wick, who has worked for Nine for more than two decades and before that as a newspaper journalist with The Daily Mirror and other publications, said he took “all the blame” for getting behind the wheel drunk on Friday night.
He apologised to his team and said he cared what his colleagues thought of him which was why his actions “are tearing me apart”.
“I have let you down,” he wrote. “I am taking immediate steps to get help and deal with my problems. I know I need to change my life.”
Mr Wick said he hoped to continue in his high profile role as director of news and current affairs and was “sharing this with you so you can learn from my poor judgment.”
“I have let you down,” he wrote. “I am taking immediate steps to get help and deal with my problems. I know I need to change my life.”
Mr Wick said he hoped to continue in his high profile role as director of news and current affairs and was “sharing this with you so you can learn from my poor judgment.”
A Nine spokesman said: “Darren Wick has done something serious and with significant consequences but we intend to support our friend and colleague as he commits to recovering from this illness and rebuilds his life.”