Hospital worker Alan Brown from Tuncurry in Taree court after drunk crashes

A Mid-North Coast hospital worker drank scotch and drove – running into two cars – after getting tangled in sheets and falling through a window. See his bizarre excuse.

Taree police station and courthouse.

A Mid-North Coast hospital worker drove after drinking scotch at home, and falling through a window after getting tangled in the sheets, because he was scared he was going to “bleed out”.

Alan Brown was in Taree Local Court on Monday, March 6, to defend charges of driving with a high range concentration of alcohol and not giving particulars to other driver.

His lawyer submitted to Magistrate Allison Hawkins that it was necessary he drive to the emergency ward at Manning Base Hospital from the residence he was house sitting at the time in Henry Flett Street to get medical attention.

The court heard he drove the short distance in an “incredibly drunken state” and had two accidents, one of which he could not remember. When he was tested at the hospital he blew 0.257.

Body worn camera footage from his police interview at the hospital on the night of the incident on June 9 last year was played during the hearing.

Alan Brown leaves Taree Local Court on Monday, March 6.

He was clearly intoxicated and slurring his words, but admitted to drinking about “six or seven” scotches at home.

At the conclusion of the interview he said: “I’ve been a silly p****’.

Brown took the stand on Monday to give evidence telling the court he had worked at Manning Base Hospital in the operating theatre for 32 years - helping to prepare operations and setting up medical equipment prior to surgery.

Brown, who normally lives in Tuncurry but was house-sitting in Taree at the time, again stated that he drank about six or seven scotches from about 3.30pm to 7.30pm and then listened to music and went to bed and “tried to settle down”.

Not long after, he got up to go to the toilet but his foot became entangled in the sheets and he fell, putting his head and arm through a glass window.

Brown told the court he had diabetes and was on medication to thin his blood and was worried he would bleed out from the resulting cuts.

He attempted to phone a friend to take him to hospital but she didn’t pick up, and the message he left on her phone was played in court where he was heard to say “I’m bleeding out”.

Brown then decided to drive his ute the relatively short distance to the hospital and collided with another car near the Edinburgh Street roundabout but failed to stop and give his particulars to the driver.

Manning Base Hospital in Taree. Picture: Janine Watson

A short distance later Brown crashed into a parked car but the court heard he had no recollection of this.

The police prosecutor argued there were several alternatives to driving himself to hospital including calling triple 000 or calling out to a neighbour for help but “by his own admissions all common sense went out the window”.

Magistrate Allison Hawkins made reference to the Dudley and Stephens case from 1884 when a similar necessity style defence was used after two men, who had been shipwrecked, argued they “had to eat the cabin boy” in order to survive.

At their trial, both Dudley and Stephens were convicted of murder and sentenced to death but the sentence was commuted to six months in prison.

Ms Hawkins told the court that for necessity to successfully be used as a defence, there has to be no other option but she said Brown could have called triple 000 or called out to neighbours for help.

She found him guilty of both charges and the case proven and adjourned the matter to April 17 for sentencing.

The police prosecutor revealed that since the incident Brown has been charged with low range drink driving.

“After this incident ?- unbelievable,” Ms Hawkins said, shaking her head, before telling Brown he clearly had an alcohol problem that needed urgent attention.