A MAN WHO downed gin to relieve the pain from a “gaping” chainsaw injury has lost a drink-driving case in Australia.
Learner driver Timothy Withrow wounded his hand while using a chainsaw at his home in Port Willunga in February of last year.
He was later pulled over for driving with a blood alcohol reading over three times the legal limit, which he claims was from the whole load of gin he drank to ease his pain.
According to the BBC, he phoned two emergency departments, but was told that they were both very busy and wouldn’t be able to treat him for more than ten hours.
Faced with this news, Withrow sewed up the cut using some fishing line and disinfected it with gin – drinking some of it himself for relief – before trying to drive himself to the hospital.
Withrow asked for the matter to be dealt with as ‘trifling’, but the judge was not impressed – he said that Withrow had other options besides driving, like calling an ambulance or a taxi, or asking a neighbour for help.
He posed a clear danger not only to himself, but to other road users. I admire his courage and his tolerance to pain but I do not admire his judgement.
