‘Absolutely cooked’: Alleged road rampage ends in dramatic arrest
A man accused of an alleged rampage through Cairns before crashing into a truck and a fence has been arrested at the conclusion to a protracted police operation.
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A man accused of a booze-fuelled rampage through Cairns before crashing into a truck and a fence has been arrested at the conclusion to a protracted police operation.
Officers from Cairns Highway Patrol on Tuesday pursued a white Subaru and arrested the 40-year-old at the corner of Mulgrave Rd and Grove St in Cairns North after the car crashed into a barrier fence.
Witness Jenelle Reghenzani was on the way to a medical appointment at about 4pm when her vehicle was stopped in a line of northbound traffic that was backed up to Munro Martin Parklands on Tuesday.
She said up to 15 police cars, detectives, the dog squad and highway patrol had been mobilised to apprehend the alleged offender.
“They threw every single resource they had at catching this guy,” she said.
“When police finally took hold of the situation they started to do traffic control because by the looks of it this lunatic was driving the car on the wrong side of the road and smashed into the fence in the median strip.
“As I approached the scene the big four-wheel-drive Toyota police car rocked up, they opened up the cage and about ten police officers had this guy handcuffed and flanked, he was absolutely cooked.”
According to police, officers first noticed a white Subaru driving without number plates, and with two flat rear tires on Links Drive, before an attempt was made to intercept the vehicle on Mulgrave Rd.
However the car sped off, driving erratically on the wrong side of the road and up the wrong way of a Woree exit ramp, police allege.
The driver, identified as Matthew Philip Longmore, allegedly proceeded to drive dangerously en route to the city and smashed into a truck before later colliding with a centre barrier fence on Sheridan St.
Mr Longmore was taken into custody a short distance from the vehicle and charged with two counts each of dangerous operation of a vehicle, drive unlicensed, drive unregistered, drive uninsured, drive without registration plates, and one count each of evasion, drink driving, and possess drug utensils.
Following the dramatic arrest police have appealed for dashcam or CCTV footage of the vehicle between 1.05pm and 1.15pm on Links Dr, Ray Jones Dr, Mulgrave Rd, Ishmael Rd, Sheridan St or Grove St.
Mr Longmore was refused bail and his matter was briefly heard in the Cairns Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
No bail application was made and the matter was adjourned until Thursday, January 9.
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Originally published as ‘Absolutely cooked’: Alleged road rampage ends in dramatic arrest
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