Straya alert: Aussie hero chases offender down street in his undies
An Aussie hero in nothing but his undies has chased a man down the road to stop him fleeing the scene of a car crash.
Daniel McConnell lept out of bed about 2am Thursday when he heard a vehicle slam into a takeaway shop across the street on Nudgee Rd at Hendra, north of Brisbane.
Wearing a Ford singlet, McConnell recounted the incident to Sunrise, saying how he gave chase when he spotted the driver trying to flee the scene
The father-of-four said he ran down the street after him, wearing only his “jocks”.
“I tried to stop him and say, ‘ey mate, don’t be taking off! You just crashed into the shop’,” the quick-thinking neighbor said.
“He goes, ‘oh mate, I fell asleep behind the wheel’.
“And I’m like, ‘yeah right-o mate, well you still don’t be fleeing the scene’,” he recounted.
“And he goes, ‘don’t be a hero mate’.”
“I wasn’t tryin’ to be a hero,” McConnell told Sunrise.
McConnell said he quickly ran back home to grab his car keys so he could catch up with the runaway driver in his little purple car.
He was able to stop the motorist and direct police to nearby Williams Avenue and arrest him.
McConnell worked at the take away shop for about two years, and the small business is an important part of the Hendra community.
“It’s a good shop, it’s owned by me mates mum for 40 odd years,” the local hero said.
“Mate, when she seen the shop at 3 o’clock this morning she was devastated.”
Now unofficially the Head of Neighborhood Watch, McConnell tried to play down his new “hero” status.
“It’s just the community, mate. Everyone looks after everyone in small old Hendra,” he said.
Queensland Police confirmed a 35-year-old Redcliffe man was charged with one count of unlicensed driving after slamming into the awning of a Nudgee Road shop.
The offender was charged with one count of unlicensed driving and will to appear at the Brisbane Magistrates Court on January 31.
Investigations into the incident are continuing.
