A Wodonga man who crashed his way around central Albury was in such a trance-like state from prescription medication for his schizophrenia that police described him as "a zombie".
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Despite the erratic nature of Jamie Alexander Knowles' driving, the only damage he managed to inflict was minor to a parked car and his own.
The circumstances of his arrest on May 13 have prompted praise from Albury Local Court magistrate Tony Murray.
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A passerby, their identity unclear to police and the court, stepped in and prevented Knowles from driving away again by grabbing his keys after he had parked outside the Albury Sportsground.
"(It was) quite clearly a wonderful intervention by an unknown member of the community," Mr Murray said on Monday.
Knowles, 21, of Fraser Street, pleaded guilty to charges of driving under the influence of drugs, possess a prohibited drug and a second offence of drive a motor vehicle while licence suspended.
Mr Murray said he accepted that the three anti-psychotic medicines in his system - rispiridone, benzatropine and olanzapine - had been lawfully prescribed to him.
The court was told that Knowles had held a Victorian probationary licence but this had been suspended indefinitely after he failed to comply with interlock licence conditions.
Knowles was driving out of Volt Lane about 11.40am when his front passenger mirror hit the passenger side of a Mitsubishi Triton parked on Olive Street.
Police said he continued on Olive Street "and made a very wide right turn" that had his car going into the opposite gutter.
Knowles stopped, got out of his car, tried to fix his broken mirror then got back in and drove along the gutter, before turning left into Smollett Street.
He crashed into a stop sign on Wodonga Place about 12.10pm.
Knowles was carrying two grams of amphetamine.
He was convicted and fined $1700, placed on a six-month community corrections order and disqualified from driving for 12 months.
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