Swerving drunk who drove around Dandenong streets was so legless he was unable to walk or talk
He was so drunk he couldn’t walk or talk properly, but this Dandenong welder got behind the wheel anyway. Then an alarmed witness spotted him weaving across a busy road, and called police. What they discovered next was “unbelievable”.
South East
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A good Samaritan followed a swerving, sozzled slowcoach around the streets of Dandenong before the dangerous driver blew nearly seven times the legal limit.
Ngoc Thanh Pham had been boozing all afternoon — evidenced by the empty bottles rattling around his car — when he was spotted crawling along busy Wellington Rd by a concerned motorist.
The alarmed man watched as the boozed-up bozo crossed lanes, swerved and stopped at green lights, before eventually stopping his car.
Then the concerned citizen took Pham’s car keys and called police, who arrested Pham when they found him unable to walk or talk properly, and slumped in the driver’s seat with “drooping eyes”.
The 50-year-old father of three pleaded guilty to blowing a mind-numbing alcohol level of 0.334 at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court today (June 19).
The court the Dandenong welder was having drinks with his mate on January 18 this year before getting behind the wheel of his car.
He later admitted to police he had been drinking with his mate, but couldn’t remember how many beers he had drunk.
In court his defence lawyer said Pham was “embarrassed and disappointed” in himself, and had battled alcohol addiction for a long time.
He said Pham would not drink again because of medication he was taking due to severe health problems, and had been attending psychological and alcohol counselling since the incident.
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Magistrate Tara Hartnett said the behaviour of Pham, who has a drink-drive prior from 2005 when he registered .262, was “unbelievable”.
“You were driving with the most extraordinary reading, at 8pm on Friday night on Wellington Rd,” Ms Hartnett said.
“Members of the public were so concerned they contacted police.”
She said she was considering jailing him, but due to his encouraging treatment and the fact the prior was more than 10 years old, she would instead have him assessed for a community corrections order.
She said Pham would be sentenced later, and indicated he would also be losing his licence for longer than the mandatory minimum of 33 months.