A MAN has admitted drinking and driving, violently resisting arrest and obstructing the police.
Douglas Raymond Ward (34) was fined £1,800 and banned from driving for 16 months.
He was also put on probation for nine months after pleading guilty to the offences in the Magistrate’s Court.
St Helier Centenier Paul Davies, prosecuting, told the court that the States police were contacted on the evening of 17 June by a member of the public who had seen someone unsteady on his feet getting on a grey moped and swerving as he rode it along Gloucester Street.
Officers stopped Ward and Mr Davies said: “His speech was slurred, he gave inappropriate answers to questions he was asked and he smelt of intoxicant.”
A breath test showed that Ward had 52 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, above the legal maximum of 35 micrograms.
Mr Davies added: “He refused to be handcuffed, clutching his fists to his chest. It resulted in a violent struggle, in which he broke a police officer’s watch.”
Ten days earlier officers had come to the block of flats where Ward lived to speak to another occupant and Ward had tried to stop them entering by standing in front of the communal door.
Advocate Chris Baglin, defending, said: “He acknowledges that he struggles in his interaction with authorities.
“He acknowledges that he shouldn’t have got in the way of the police.”
He also said of the drink-driving offence: “He did not go out with the intention: ‘I’m going to drink and drive.’ He ordered non-alcoholic beer but the staff, whose first language wasn’t English, misheard him.”
The court heard that Ward’s one previous conviction dated back 13 years.
Relief Magistrate Peter Harris allowed him to pay the fine at the rate of £200 per month. He also ordered him to retake the driving test after the ban has elapsed.
