A 30-year-old woman accused of drink-driving claimed she actually got drunk after leaving the car by putting a shot of vodka into her eyeball.
Beautician Chelsey McDonald, from Huyton, Liverpool, was stopped by police when she got out of her orange BMW convertible after officers received a report about her driving from a member of the public on 13 November, 2021.
Without indicating, the driver had just pulled into a car park near the Hare and Hounds pub in West Derby village, where she had met an oncoming taxi exiting the car park and temporarily blocked the road as a result.
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Upon leaving the car, McDonald was seen to 'do a little dance' and hug one of her friends before the group of three began to make their way to the pub, which is when they were stopped by police.
Bodycam footage recorded by the responding officers showed McDonald asking what was going on and saying: "What are you arresting me for?"
After having her phone seized, she continued: "Give me my phone, I'm not doing anything wrong, what the f*** is going on?"
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One of the responding officers replied to say McDonald was 'clearly highly intoxicated'.
At one point during the encounter McDonald apologised, saying: "I am so sorry, I am so drunk." She also lashed out with her legs while being handcuffed and kicked a PC in the chest as she was restrained on the floor.
A test revealed McDonald had 63 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath - almost double the legal limit of 35mg.
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During a trial at Sefton magistrates court, McDonald claimed she had two bottles of WKD earlier in the evening and that she felt 'absolutely fine' as she began to drive. Her friends were drinking from a bottle of vodka on the way to the pub, and she said that upon arriving they each poured a capful of the alcohol into their eye.
"One of the girls said 'Shall we put it in our eyeball'," McDonald claimed, adding: "Apparently it gets you drunk a lot faster than it does downing it. I was just excited, I could not wait to get out and park the car and be able to have a drink. "
The 30-year-old admitted her driving was 'pretty poor' and that she 'did not use [her] indicators', saying she couldn't wait to get out after a 'stressful day'. She recalled stumbling when she got out of the car, but claimed that was due to pain in her eye because of the vodka.
The court heard there was no spillage on McDonald's clothes, hair or makeup, with prosecutor Paula Grogan telling the court it would have been 'practically impossible' for the friends to do the eyeball shots in the 14 seconds between parking and getting out of the car.
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Grogan said: "There is nothing to suggest that her eye is sore on the video and she makes no mention of it to the officer. This is because it's not true. It's something she has made up to get off this very sticky wicket that she finds herself in. She was not happy with the concept of spending a night in the cells."
JP Christina Hill commented: "We believe it is implausible that alcohol level could be attained by drinking in the car park in the manner you said."
McDonald was ultimately convicted of drink driving, as well as being found guilty of assaulting an emergency worker. As a result, she has been banned from driving for 18 months, sentenced to a 12-week 7:00pm-7:00am curfew and ordered to pay £395 in costs and victim surcharge.
Topics: Food And Drink, Crime, UK News
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Emily Brown