THIS is the shocking moment a drunk-driver staggered across a pub garden before he got behind the wheel and smashed into two people.
“Heavily intoxicated” Lawson Wright was captured swaying across his local boozer after he was turned away for drinking too much.
Shocking video showed Wright staggering across the pub gardenCredit: SWNS
The driver was also captured stumbling into a treeCredit: SWNS
Wright later crashed his van into another vehicleCredit: SWNS
The 56-year-old was also filmed stumbling into a tree at the pub in Headington, Oxfordshire, before he clambered into his Ford Transit van.
Wright then smashed into a car on the A44 in Yarnton – leaving both vehicles mangled.
Thankfully the driver and passenger of the other car only suffered minor injuries.
Wright suffered serious injuries in the crash, which resulted in him being put into an induced coma.
He pleaded guilty to without insurance, dangerous driving, possession of a class C controlled drug, namely Diazepam, and failure to provide a specimen for analysis.
But Wright avoided jail and was instead handed an 18-month sentence suspended for 20 months at Crown Court.
The judge said: “It’s hard to conceive of a more serious drink driving offence. The level of risk you posed to other road users was high.
“It’s a matter of luck I’m not dealing with you for causing death by dangerous driving. You were a huge risk to members of the public that day.
“You have escaped immediate custody by the skin of your teeth today.”
As well as the suspended sentence, Wright was also banned from driving for five years and ordered to pay £2,000 compensation.
Lawson was also given a nine-month curfew, which requires him to stay at his home address between 7pm and 5am every day.
A statement from Thames Valley , released with the video, said: “We say it time and time again: please do not drink and drive.
“It’s not just your life you put at risk, it’s everyone else’s too.”
Footage shows the mangled car after the crashCredit: SWNS
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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