News (Media Awareness Project) - New Zealand: Dopey Transaction Gives Police Officer Easy Arrest |
| Title: | New Zealand: Dopey Transaction Gives Police Officer Easy Arrest |
| Published On: | 2008-05-24 |
| Source: | Dominion Post, The (New Zealand) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-06-01 12:24:50 |
DOPEY TRANSACTION GIVES POLICE OFFICER EASY ARREST
The world was laughing at Masterton man Wade Churchward and he did not
even know it.
He made headlines this week after being busted trying to use cannabis
to pay for snacks when he got a bad case of the munchies. The problem
was, a policeman had been standing behind him in a petrol station watching.
News of his dopey transaction quickly spread around the globe thanks
to the internet a technology that Churchward, 28, a mechanic,
confesses to never using and made him the butt of jokes from his mates.
He said yesterday he remembered nothing of the night in question, or
the fact that people around the world were reading about his plight.
"I had just had surgery on my lung after puncturing it in a motorbike
accident and had forced myself from hospital at 3pm to make my mate's
wedding by four," he said. "I guess with all that morphine and all the
narcotics they had been pumping into me and after jumping straight
into jugs of beer, you could pretty much see what was going to happen."
Constable Peter Sykes said he noticed the attendant was having trouble
with a customer as he filled up his patrol car. "He kept looking out
at the window at me and I started wondering, 'What the hell is going
on?"'
Inside, Churchward was munching his way through his snacks while
trying to pay with an eftpos card, which kept being declined.
Undeterred, he pulled out a tin of cannabis and a pipe to smoke it in
and offered it to the attendant as payment before Sykes tapped him on
the shoulder.
Churchward's family, who had also been at the wedding, arrived at the
petrol station as he was being spoken to. They offered to take him
home, rather than have him spend a night in a cell, and he was
summonsed to appear in court.
It was not until the next morning when he sobered up that his sister
went through his wallet and pulled out $47 in cash he had the money on
him the whole time.
He appeared in the Masterton District Court and pleaded guilty this
week to possessing cannabis and will be sentenced on July 3.
The world was laughing at Masterton man Wade Churchward and he did not
even know it.
He made headlines this week after being busted trying to use cannabis
to pay for snacks when he got a bad case of the munchies. The problem
was, a policeman had been standing behind him in a petrol station watching.
News of his dopey transaction quickly spread around the globe thanks
to the internet a technology that Churchward, 28, a mechanic,
confesses to never using and made him the butt of jokes from his mates.
He said yesterday he remembered nothing of the night in question, or
the fact that people around the world were reading about his plight.
"I had just had surgery on my lung after puncturing it in a motorbike
accident and had forced myself from hospital at 3pm to make my mate's
wedding by four," he said. "I guess with all that morphine and all the
narcotics they had been pumping into me and after jumping straight
into jugs of beer, you could pretty much see what was going to happen."
Constable Peter Sykes said he noticed the attendant was having trouble
with a customer as he filled up his patrol car. "He kept looking out
at the window at me and I started wondering, 'What the hell is going
on?"'
Inside, Churchward was munching his way through his snacks while
trying to pay with an eftpos card, which kept being declined.
Undeterred, he pulled out a tin of cannabis and a pipe to smoke it in
and offered it to the attendant as payment before Sykes tapped him on
the shoulder.
Churchward's family, who had also been at the wedding, arrived at the
petrol station as he was being spoken to. They offered to take him
home, rather than have him spend a night in a cell, and he was
summonsed to appear in court.
It was not until the next morning when he sobered up that his sister
went through his wallet and pulled out $47 in cash he had the money on
him the whole time.
He appeared in the Masterton District Court and pleaded guilty this
week to possessing cannabis and will be sentenced on July 3.
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