Wednesday 1 June 2022 10:10 AM NT police officers sentenced to house arrest after drug driving crash near Uluru trends now
Two disgraced police officers who tried to cover up a drunken patrol car crash into a rock monument near Uluru by enlisting a local to take the breathalyser test have learned their fate.
Christopher Beaumont, 49, and Wade Hawkins, 44, narrowly escaped jail time over the wild night out after they both pleaded guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice and making a false declaration in Darwin Supreme Court.
Beaumont also pleaded guilty to drunk driving and driving without due care over the November 2021 incident.
The court heard the two officers spent a few hours drinking at a hotel in the remote resort town of Yulara before attending an open bar function at a local Lions club.
NT Police officer Christopher Beaumont (pictured) skolled drinks, ate chalk and snorted wine off a table before crashing his police car into a rock monument
At one stage of the night, Beaumont 'began simulating licking and snorting the wine from the table' after a friend spilt a glass of wine, the NT News reported.
When the party ended, the group continued drinking at the police social club where Beaumont appeared 'highly intoxicated'.
At one point after skolling a can of Mercury Cider, (Beaumont) was seen vomiting into the kitchen sink,' Justice Southwood told the court.
'He was loud, glassy eyed, with a flushed face, slurred speech and was unsteady on his feet and was seen eating a piece of blackboard chalk.'
Beaumont later texted his boss to call in sick and left the station in a cop car around 6am.
He lost control of the patrol car and crashed into a rock monument at a highway intersection near Ayers Rock Resort, causing extensive damage, the court heard.
He called Hawkins 'in a distressed state', reported the crash to the Alice Springs Watch Commander and then panicked when he realised he would have to undergo a breath test.
Beaumont went to his neighbour's home and pleaded them to blow the breathalyser to ensure a zero reading.
The civilian
