A drink-driver accelerated to more than 150kmh and overtook multiple vehicles in no-passing zones after police tried to pull him over. Hanley’s Farm man Matthew James Riley, 36, was driving his Ford Ranger ute so erratically between Kingston and Frankton on May 3 that other motorists called the cops. At Riley’s sentencing in Queenstown’s court this week, Judge Catriona Doyle said the complainants reported he was repeatedly veering across the centre line and overtaking other vehicles on solid yellow no-passing lines. When he drove past a waiting patrol car near Drift Bay, it activated its siren and red and blue lights, but he sped up in an attempt to get away. Doyle said his driving was so bad, police abandoned their pursuit because of the “extreme danger” he was putting other road users in. As Riley turned off the highway into Māori Jack Rd to get home, he crashed into a rock wall, damaging the wall and his vehicle, but kept going. Police found him at home a few minutes later, where a breath-test gave a result of 795mcg. “You told them you’d fled because you wanted to get your dog home, and you knew you shouldn’t have been driving drunk.” He was charged with aggravated drink-driving, aggravated failing to stop for police and dangerous driving. Riley’s lawyer, Bryony Shackell, said it was an “episode of extraordinarily poor decision-making”. However, he’d recognised drinking was the cause of his behaviour, and had taken proactive steps towards rehabilitation. Noting his string of driving-related convictions, including two for drink-driving in 2010 and 2014, Doyle told him he was “incredibly lucky” he’d only damaged his vehicle and a wall. “You put people’s lives in danger, and clearly also your own.” She convicted him and imposed a sentence of three months’ community detention, nine months’ supervision and an 18-month driving ban. guy.williams@scene.co.nz
