Bloke is caught diverting traffic away from a drink-driving checkpoint ‘to help people out’ while he was ‘wasted’ on whiskey after being deported from Australia
- Cooper Couch, 45, diverted traffic away from NZ police
- He used cones to direct drivers from a breath testing site
- Couch, who was drunk during the act, was fined in court
A New Zealand man who was caught directing traffic away from a police drink-driving checkpoint claims he ‘was just trying to help a few people out’.
Cooper Couch, 45, faced Dunedin District Court in New Zealand on Wednesday and was fined $750 for obstructing police.
It follows a wild night out on January 21, where he used road cones to divert people away from the checkpoint.
Couch said that he barely remembered anything on the night as he was ‘pretty wasted’.
‘It was a big night out,’ he told a reporter from the Otago Daily Times. ‘I still remember the fat copper trying to chase me on foot.’
Couch’s defence counsel Meg Scally said her client usually stuck to drinking beer, but on the night he got in trouble he had been enjoying whiskey with an old friend.
The court heard police had set up a breath testing site along Cumberland Street by Queens Gardens on the night.
Couch used road cones from a nearby building site to create a diversion away from the check point.
The acting sergeant in charge of the drink driving operation realised something was wrong when several cars drove past the checkpoint.
Cooper Couch (pictured), 45, was fined after he was caught putting cones down to divert drivers away from a random breath testing site monitored by NZ police
Officers moved to replace the cones to fix the situation, but cars started to bypass the checkpoint once again when Couch returned and moved the cones back to the spot where he originally placed them.
Officers walked back to the area and caught him putting the cones back down.
They chased Couch down the street before catching him and taking him back to the Leviathan Hotel, which was where he was staying for the night.
He was then apprehended and charged.
Acting Sergeant Tim Coudret told the Otago Daily Times that although Couch’s prank was ‘a bit comical’ it was also ‘a massive risk to us and the public’.
Police had set up a breath testing site in Queens Gardens on the night of January 21 but realised something was wrong when cars began to drive past the checkpoint (stock image)
Ms Scally said the amusing act was ‘not malicious…just drunken idiocy’.
She also revealed that Couch had suffered a head injury in a vehicle crash in recent years.
Couch had been deported from Australia to New Zealand late last year after being convicted for driving without a licence on numerous occasions, the court heard.
He explained that life had been difficult for him as he was forced to leave his six-year-old daughter behind and he was hopeful an appeal he had lodged would result in his visa being reinstated.
Couch has been working as a builder in New Zealand for the past three months, with his employer telling the court via a letter that he was a highly valued worker.
The judge fined Couch but did not impose community work, meaning he will be kept out of the criminal justice system.
