An Indian truck driver has been charged after allegedly resisting arrest while high on methamphetamine at a heavy vehicle inspection station in Chinderah, northern NSW.
A video of the arrest, shared by truck driver Aaron Farquhar on his popular Aaron The Typical Trucker social media pages, shows a man with a long beard and wearing a Sikh turban facing off with a single police officer.
The pair can be seen standing next to a National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) car, with an NHVR inspector in a hi-vis vest nearby, when the officer attempts to arrest the driver.
The driver resists, and at one stage appears to be reaching for the officer’s gun before he is thrown to the ground and restrained while the inspector runs to get help.
NSW Police said the B-Double was pulled over on Tweed Valley Way at 10am on Tuesday for roadside testing and driver checks, and was the truck was allegedly found to be in breach of safety standards.
The driver allegedly told the officer and inspector he did not have a work diary, but one was allegedly found during a search of the truck showing work diary offences.
“As the man’s bag was about to be searched, the man allegedly took hold of the bag and refused to release it. A struggle ensued and the driver was arrested a short time later,” police said in a statement.
“During a search of the bag, police allegedly located and seized a pipe and approximately 1g of a substance believed to be methamphetamine.
“The driver was taken to Tweed Heads Police Station where he underwent a breath test with a negative result. He then underwent an oral fluid test that allegedly produced a positive detection to methamphetamine. A second oral fluid sample was obtained and will be sent for further analysis.”
The driver was charged with “make false or misleading statement to official”, “driver not record required information after starting work”, “solo driver work more than stated maximum time – minor risk”, “hinder or resist police officer in the execution of duty (two counts), and “possess prohibited drug”.
He was also banned from driving for 24 hours and granted conditional bail to appear in Tweed Heads Local Court on April 13.
Mr Farquhar said in a YouTube video analysing the clip that he didn’t intend to target Indians and would have shared the footage no matter who it involved, and speculated that the truck may have failed inspection.
“The truck’s in pretty bad shape. You can see from the front of the front wheels when he’s on the ground, you look at the front wheels, you got cable ties coming out of the front guards, so maybe the guard’s being held on by cable ties,” he said.
“So, it’s a pretty poorly maintained truck, which in that case, these trucks should be off the road. This is what kills people.
“It’s pretty disturbing that it gets to that point, and I can understand now why these heavy vehicle inspectors in the US carry guns.”
Header image: Left, right, the truck driver being arrested (Aaron The Typical Trucker).
The post Indian truck driver allegedly resists arrest while high on meth at inspection station first appeared on The Noticer.
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