Schoolboy who stopped drink-driver told by police he’d done ‘the wrong thing’

A teenage schoolboy trying to do the right thing says he feels let down by police after he was told he’d effectively stolen the keys of a drunk driver.

Lachlan told Neil Mitchell he was driving when he noticed the car in front of him swerving all over the road.

He managed to convince the driver to pull over by tooting his horn, before taking his keys when it became apparent he was drunk.

The 18-year-old, about to finish school, then went to the police who told him there was nothing they could do and that he should give the keys back.

“She (police officer) laughed through the whole story and then told me I shouldn’t have taken his keys,” Lachlan said.

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Assistant Commissioner for Road Policing Doug Fryer told Neil Mitchell while he has no doubt police could have responded better to Lachlan, he discouraged drivers from taking the law into their own hands.

“Technically he probably shouldn’t have done it…he probably did show a little bit of dash,” he said.

“What we do encourage people to do is call Triple Zero if they see impaired drivers on the road.

“We can get a van there straight away.

“We don’t want members of the community engaging with people who could be impaired in any way at all.”

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