Posted on 10/07/2018 10:09:18 PM PDT by naturalman1975
The head of the US marine force stationed in the Top End has been relieved of his command for drink-driving on Darwin's nightclub strip.
Colonel James Schnelle, 48, appeared in Darwin Local Court this morning, charged with medium-range drink-driving.
The court heard he failed a random breath test on Darwin's Mitchell Street in the early hours of a Sunday morning late last month.
No conviction was recorded, but the court heard Colonel Schnelle had been stood down from his job of commanding the largest contingent of Marines ever to rotate through the Top End.
The court heard Colonel Schnelle was stopped at an RBT outside the Darwin Entertainment Centre on Mitchell Street at 2:20am on Sunday, September 30, where he recorded a mid-range reading for blood alcohol content.
He had been at Shenanigans Restaurant and Bar in the CBD and was driving home to Larrakeyah, a suburb about 3.4 kilometres away.
Following the RBT, the court heard he then walked home.
He then emailed superiors at 6:33am and they called him at 7:47am to relieve him of his command, the court heard.
Today he pleaded guilty in court to driving with a medium-range blood alcohol content.
"This is a man of very high character, he has no convictions anywhere in the world and has contributed immensely to society," Colonel Schnelle's lawyer told the court.
"The US Marines are going to deal with him very harshly."
(Excerpt) Read more at abc.net.au ...
I think my blood has a medium range alcohol content most hours of the day.
Damn.He should know better.It sucks.
How do we say beeah? Fosters!
I LOVE Fosters!!!
Had my first one at maybe 15 and it was love at first gulp!!
Someone ain’t making O-7.
Hell, he walked home. OK, someone thought he had too much, so he stopped driving and walked fer crissake.
Australia is really becoming neutered, if I may say so. Not that the US is any better.
Was it Fosters in Oz or stateside Fosters? There is a big differnce.My favorite was VB way back in the day.
I won’t lie and say i know.
Just remember it being blue and maybe bigger than two 12 ounce cans.
How much is that in American drinking?
If the Marines expected you to behave, they wouldn’t challenge you with a Good Conduct Medal.
Guys like him will be worth a lot more when bullets start flying and the pussies who never got in trouble are all running away.
Isn’t that Driving while Drunk or Drunk Driving Or DUI Driving under Influence?
“Top End” is just a generic term for that part of Australia.
Basically it’s the northern part of the Northern Territory.
And he walked home after he’d been caught. If he’d tried to drive again, he would have been arrested.
The legal limit is 0.05 - he was over double that. I think it’s a valid question as to whether or not, he was significantly impaired or not, but the law is very clear and somebody in his position has a particular responsibility to obey it.
Australia uses the term ‘Drink Driving.’ Driving with a blood alcohol level of more than 0.05%.
Australians rarely drink Fosters (although any beer in a storm!). It’s mostly made for the export market.
Interesting.
Is it because it is not strong enough for them?
I know there are quite a few countries that make our beers look like sodee pop :)
He’s got off pretty easily as far as Australian law is concerned - no conviction and no gaol time and he could have got both (his previous good record would have counted for a lot in terms of that).
It’s up to the USMC how they handle it - I suspect the biggest problem is that’s he caused some embarrassment, rather than the raw offence.
Yeah, I love it too.
But I can’t drink it anymore. At my age, every sip adds to my beer gut!
So now I have to drink scotch instead.
It’s not fair! I love Fosters!
Which beer is most popular in Australia tends to be state specific (where I am, in Victoria, VB - Victoria Bitter - is the top beer), while Fosters is kind of a national level beer, without a great following in any specific state. Most pubs only carry a limited selection, mostly of locally popular stuff, and the fancy bars probably regard Fosters as too low brow.
Yes indeed, but the military doesn’t play around with DUIs anymore. To wit, I met an US Air Force major last October who was in the process of losing his commission for DUI. He was a pilot, graduated from the academy and had 16 years of unblemished service. But one DUI and his career was over.
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