Drug driver's four word response to police as he was arrested
A dangerous driver who bombed down a 30mph zone at 90mph remarked "I'm a f***ing idiot" as he was arrested. Stuart Whittaker, 40, raced through the streets of Ellesmere Port in a failed attempt to escape police officers who tried to pull him over.
The incident occurred at around 10.25pm on May 15, when Whittaker's Volkswagen Golf was spotted by officers on Stanney Lane. A marker had been placed on the vehicle two days earlier after it was reported speeding at 90mph in a 30 zone and going the wrong way around a roundabout at Sutton Way.
Police bodycam footage captured the chase as PCs Cooling and Macdonald pursued Whittaker down Regent Street at 70mph. They continued onto School Road, approaching Grace Road, before stopping on Edward Street, where Whittaker was arrested.
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Bodycam footage showed the PCs running towards Whittaker, shouting: "Stay where you are, police with a taser! Get on the ground!". Whittaker, dressed in a blue jacket and jeans, sat down against a lamp post, then laid down on the ground as he was handcuffed and arrested.
One of the officers asked him "what are you doing mate?" to which he responded: "I know, I'm a f***ing idiot mate." He was found to have 212 micrograms of benzoylecgonine per litre of blood – the limit is 50 – plus 32 micrograms of cocaine per litre of blood.
Whittaker, of Beech Grove, Whitby, Ellesmere Port, appeared at Chester Magistrates’ Court on September 10, where he pleaded guilty to drug driving. He was sentenced to a total of 16 months in prison and disqualified from driving for a period of five years and eight months.
The sentence was added to a sentence previously imposed by Chester Crown Court in June this year for the same incident, where he was convicted of dangerous driving and driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence.