Here’s a contender for this year’s Darwin Awards. Kevin Lucas led police in County Durham on a high-speed chase in the dark with no lights on.
He braked repeatedly, causing a police car to hit him on one occasion, took roundabouts the wrong way, drove on the wrong side of the road, and even escaped being corralled by driving at speed along pavements.
He had no insurance and no licence.
When he and his three passengers decided to try and leg it – and in spite of the fact he was seen getting out of the driver’s side of the trainee pratmobile he was in (a Renault Clio) – he claimed:
I wasn’t the driver.
This clearly makes him a front runner for this year’s Darwins. Mind you, when you look at that mug shot you have to wonder if he is eligible, since the Darwin Awards are typically awarded to the higher primates.
The little prick got 15 months for dangerous driving – no doubt to be served concurrently with the 9 months he is in the middle of (and for which he must be out on licence) for assisting an offender. Laughably, his defence lawyer also toyed with the idea of getting himself nominated for a Darwin:
Paul Currer, mitigating, said Lucas had been given valium, with which he was not familiar.
A bit of a mistake, I think. He should have been given something else – something that would do evolution a favour. Valium, on the other hand, appears to make him think he can cut his own hair and nobody will notice.
Note that my references to the Darwin Awards are always my own take, and are not in any way affiliated with the genuine Darwins.