EIGHT police officers turned up to arrest a disabled grandad after he was caught over the drink-drive limit while riding his mobility scooter along the pavement at 3.5mph (5.6kmh).
Eamonn Donohoe, originally from Kildalkey, Co Meath, had been out playing dominoes and socialising with friends at a village club in Derbyshire. The 62-year-old ignored policemen trying to flag him down as he knew the scooter was not covered by the usual traffic laws. But two panda cars and a police van suddenly arrived at the scene as he neared his sheltered bungalow .
Fingerprinted
Having failed a breath test at the roadside, Mr Donohoe, who had drunk six or seven pints, was locked up at the police station for 12 hours, where he was fingerprinted, photographed and had a DNA swab taken. Magistrates imposed a three-year driving ban when the retired construction worker appeared in court at Chesterfield — but acknowledged that he was free to carry on riding his scooter.
Mr Donohoe yesterday accused the police of wasting public money: “I can’t believe how they treated me — anybody would think that I was a bank robber or a member of al-Qa’ida. “When someone broke into my home and stole my TV and my video two years ago the police didn’t turn up for three days, and yet they can drop everything for something as daft as this.”
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