14 DAY TRIAL // A drunk driver who was being chased by police abandoned his car and dived into a heap of manure in an attempt to escape from cops. The incident happened in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, when a traffic patrol started to chase Jake Hart's vehicle because he refused to stop upon request.
Officers noticed Hart's brake lights were not working and asked him to pull over, but he refused to do so, and took them on a 90mph (144 km/h) chase through a built-up area.
According to the Stoke Sentinel, the 22-year-old man even mounted the pavement and, at one point, he was travelling so fast over speed bumps that the car left the ground. His crazy ride eventually came to an end after he crashed into a parked car, and he and his passenger abandoned the vehicle.
As weird as it may sound, the boozy driver was later found hiding in manure in Longton Park.
Apparently, Hart and a friend had bought a Peugeot car for £300 (approx. $500/€370) with the intention of restoring it to good condition and selling it on. That same vehicle was involved in the car chase in Blurton on April 12, after police observed the brake lights were not working.
The police report on the incident states that the car sped through Beaconsfield Drive and Blurton Road, before switching to Trentham Road towards Longton.
“It reached up to 45mph in a 30mph limit. It reached 80mph in Blurton Road and went the wrong way around keep left bollards and reached a roundabout on the wrong side of the road,” prosecutor David Bennett said during a court hearing.
“In Trentham Road the Peugeot travelled at 90mph towards Longton. The officer abandoned the chase and another police car took over the pursuit. In Beaconsfield Drive, the Peugeot went over speed bumps at such a speed it left the ground,” he added.
After catching the suspect, police discovered he was not only drunk, but he also didn't have a driving license or insurance. The breathalyzer showed a reading of 47 micrograms of alcohol in 100 milliliters of breath, which is 12 micrograms above the limit of 35.
Hart has been awarded a six-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to drunk driving, dangerous driving, and driving with no insurance. He was also banned for a year at Stoke Crown Court.
“If you had just been stopped for no brake lights you would have been over the limit with no insurance, but would not have been facing a prison sentence,” judge David Fletcher told him.