Man lost it on vile drug

Aggression taken out on police constables

TASERS, capsicum spray and police batons were needed to subdue a man, who viciously attacked two constables while “off his face” on a synthetic hallucinogen.

Mitchell James Quayle was yesterday jailed for two years, to serve six months, for seriously assaulting constables Joshua Plowman and John Wood and dangerously driving while drug affected on February 19, 2015.

Then 26, he was seen driving erratically on the wrong side of the road on the Captain Cook Highway on the roundabout at Smithfield about 4.50am.

Dom Wiadrowski, for crown prosecutions, said it was more “good luck than good management” that a serious traffic crash didn’t occur.

Quayle was immediately aggressive with the two officers, who found him in front of his car in the middle of the road and stopped to help.

Cairns District Court Judge Brian Harrison described what happened next as an “incredible struggle where you displayed amazing strength and persistence”.

Barrister Joshua Trevino said his client had been under the effects of the synthetic hallucinogen NBOMe, which had similar effects as methylamphetamine including aggression and extreme strength. Quayle had ingested drugs earlier that night thinking it was ecstasy.

“He … had no idea what he was taking at the time he took them,” Mr Trevino said, adding that his client was ashamed and remorseful.

The court was told that Quayle had also been injured during the struggle.

“This is while he was on top of a police officer trying to bash the living daylights out him,” Judge Harrison said.

As a result, Quayle’s blood fell on Const. Plowman’s face and on Const. Wood, resulting in both needing disease testing.

“You, to put it colloquially, were totally off your face at the time of this incident,” Judge Harrison said. “The police here were placed in an impossible position. They have a difficult enough job to do at the best of time …” of