Aggressive drink driver forces Kingaroy police to pull taser

A KINGAROY court heard a young local had a high-voltage scuffle with police after he was caught drink driving.

Police were forced to pull a taser on Gavin Tessmann earlier this year, after he became aggressive with officers. File Photo.

KINGAROY police were forced to draw their tasers on an aggressive Gavin Tessmann when they pulled him over for an RBT earlier this year, a court has heard.

Tessmann pleaded guilty to four charges before Kingaroy Magistrates Court on Monday (August 31), including obstructing a police officer, driving over the middle alcohol limit, possession of dangerous drugs, and a fail to appear.

The court heard on January 6, 2020, officers intercepted Tessmann’s car while he was driving on William Street at Kingaroy. According to police prosecutor Pepe Gangemi, at the time he was rambling and unable to maintain his train of thought.

“He was sweating profusely, dishevelled in appearance, and he had dilated pupils. When he was exiting the vehicle he began acting aggressively toward police,” Sergeant Gangemi said.

“Police attempted to escort him to the police vehicle - he resisted. As he became more aggressive, making threats to police to assault them, that resulted in a physical altercation.”

At this point, police were forced to draw a taser.

During a subsequent search of the vehicle, police also located 12 grams of cannabis.

According to defence lawyer Jay Rose, the cannabis was for personal use and helps the 26-year-old control his anxiety.

On August 3, 2020, Tessmann received the fail to appear charge after failing to surrender into custody in accordance with a bail undertaking he undertook on January 6 at Kingaroy.

In relation to this charge, Ms Rose said her client was “more concerned about keeping his employment than attending court”.

For the mid-range drink drive, Magistrate Andrew Sinclair issued Tessmann with a $750 fine and disqualified him from holding or obtaining a licence for six months from Monday.

In relation to the obstruct police, he received a $250 fine. Tessmann received a further $150 fine for possessing cannabis and $250 for the fail to appear.

All fines, which come to a total of $1400, have been referred to SPER.

Only the drink driving offence had a conviction recorded.

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