The Snitch: Cop’s Terminator 2 arrest as he latches onto moving car
A Highway Patrol officer’s dramatic arrest in Sydney’s west this week has drawn comparisons with an iconic scene in Terminator 2, with the cop clinging onto a moving car for about 200m.
NSW
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Does Highway Patrol officer Steven Wade need to change his name to T-1000?
Similarities have been drawn between an arrest made by the Leading Senior Constable and an iconic scene in Terminator 2, when the shapeshifting, liquid-metal bad guy known as T-1000 hooked his arms onto a speeding getaway car being driven by Arnie.
The only difference being Sen Con Wade didn’t fall off.
On Thursday night Wade was standing on the edge of a notorious hoon spot in Bidwell when 18-year-old Adrian Thorne entered the frame.
Thorne allegedly pulled off three burnouts before Wade and his offsider jogged over to his Toyota HiLux ute.
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According to the police allegations, Wade leaned in the driver’s side window in a bid to grab the keys when Thorne hit the gas. Clinging on for dear life, he was taken on a 200m “joy ride” as Thorne allegedly reached speeds of up to 50km/h.
Showing superhuman strength, the officer managed to pull himself in through the driver’s window. With his legs still hanging out the window, and Thorne allegedly driving at dangerous speeds, Wade clocked him a few times with his torch in a bid to get him to stop.
When Thorne did finally stopped and was dragged onto the ground, he allegedly said: “I just panicked.”
A stash of cannabis was also allegedly found in the car. Thorne was charged and will appear in Mt Druitt Local Court on September 25. Remarkably Snr Con Wade wasn’t injured.
It’s not clear, however, if he’s ever uttered the words: “I’ll be back.”
JOHN’S GONG
Former Kings Cross identity John Ibrahim enjoyed rubbing shoulders with some of Australia’s literary types on Friday night.
The controversial figure was presenting the Danger Prize, which recognises an outstanding crime book, film or podcast, at the Bad Sydney Crime Writers Festival.
Ibrahim, having won the inaugural award himself last year for his memoir The Last King Of The Cross, jokingly told winner, The Australian journalist Hedley Thomas, he was one of a select few to take out the gong.
Thomas, who won the award for his podcast The Teacher’s Pet, considered making a funny comment at the former nightclub baron’s expense, but had second thoughts after reading his Wikipedia page. “Maybe we can be Facebook friends,” he half-joked.
Once his presenter duties were out of the way, Ibrahim quietly slipped out the door.
PROTECTOR, NOT AGGRESSOR
Chalk one up for rugby league players. Canberra player Duwayne Marinerhas had an affray charge withdrawn and got no conviction recorded for resisting police.
It all stemmed from an incident involving 10 people outside the Bristol Arms Hotel in Sydney’s CBD in December.
His lawyer Paul McGirr told Downing Centre he was trying to help his brothers, who were “being set upon”.
“It is often assumed that fit, strong league players are always the aggressors,” he said. “But that was not the case here.
“My client was charged before the facts emerged that he was actually trying to protect his brothers from being attacked.”
EXPLOSIVE CASE
A if their job isn’t hard enough, the taxpayer-funded criminal lawyer service Legal Aid has been the target of three bomb threats in recent times.
Legal Aid boss Brendan Thomas fronted a budget estimates committee on September 2 at NSW Parliament, where he revealed his offices at Sutherland and Wollongong and the Sydney head office had been targeted by the same individual.
“We had a number of bomb threats made against officers of the Legal Aid Commission over a period of about two weeks from the same source,” Mr Thomas said.
“(It was) a client of Legal Aid’s who has … a long history of that kind of activity.”
He did not confirm if it was an accused criminal or a jilted lawyer sick of being paid peanuts thanks to Legal Aid’s much-publicised budget constraints.
But he did say the Wollongong and Sutherland offices were evacuated. It was a different story for the head office on Castlereagh St. “The police did an assessment of that area and advised us not to evacuate that particular location,” Mr Thomas said.
But it seems some staff took matters into their own hands.
“Unfortunately, we had some staff on the lower ground floor who took it upon themselves to evacuate,” Mr Thomas said.
Snitch was unable to confirm if the staff evacuated themselves to the nearby Surry Hills Hotel.
“It has caused us — in terms of our head office — to completely reassess the way we deal with those matters,” Mr Thomas said.
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