Police man’s best friend tracks down druggie who ran from cops after being caught in Langwarrin
A drugged-up father-of-two was nervous when pulled over by police in Langwarrin. He then discovered running from cops wasn’t the answer, especially when they got their four-legged colleagues on the job.
South East
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An iced-up butcher who tried to leg it from cops was caught by the canine squad after chucking a drug satchel into bushland.
Nathan Bridger failed to outrun police dogs after officers who had pulled him up in his car at a random early morning stop in Langwarrin became suspicious of his anxious and nervous state.
When asked to take a drug test he refused, and when they tried to search his car, he hotfooted it down the road, with several two-footed officers in tow.
Back-up was called and a furry four-legged felon fetcher soon nabbed the breathless man, minus a satchel containing ice and drug paraphernalia he had tried to get rid of mid-chase.
A quick search of nearby bushland uncovered the bag of booty and Bridger was arrested.
The 30-year-old father-of-two’s butchered bid for freedom came at a cost to his wallet and his licence after he pleaded guilty to drugs and driving charges at Frankston Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
That was the Frankston man’s third ice-fuelled run-in with the law within six weeks after his drug use spiralled out of control late last year.
He also pleaded guilty to a petrol drive-off in the Gippsland town of Bass on November 4 last year, and a failed oral fluid test in Langwarrin two weeks later.
SPEEDING DOUBLE DRUG UNLICENSED DRIVER JAILED
ICE-ADDICTED GUMBUYA, PUB THIEF FORGOT CRIMES
The court heard Bridger was routinely intercepted at 2.23am on December 19 last year on Frankston-Cranbourne Rd in Langwarrin.
He was evasive and refused to get out of his car before suddenly sprinting off down the road with a satchel he had snatched from inside the vehicle.
Officers ran after him, called back-up and he was nabbed soon after and the shoulder bag with two deal bags and 1.36g of ice, as well as smoking paraphernalia, was located.
Cops also found a knife in the car’s console.
His lawyer said Bridger, who is now a butcher at a Southland meat store, was unemployed at the time and doing it tough.
He said he had completed a detox in May, was far more settled in his life and “things have improved for him”.
Magistrate Jack Vandersteen convicted and fined Bridger a total of $950, and disqualified him from driving for 12 months.