Weird detail in Aussie actor’s drink-driving

Award-winning Australian actor Simon Baker has avoided a conviction for drink-driving, with a court being told officers were unable to get a blood alcohol reading due to the worldwide Microsoft outage.

Mr Baker, who starred in The Mentalist and was nominated for multiple awards for his role in the Netflix drama Boy Swallows Universe, was silent as he left court in the company of his lawyer, Peggy Dwyer.

The award-winning actor pleaded guilty to a single charge of driving a vehicle under the influence of alcohol during an earlier court appearance.

Another charge of attempting to drive under the influence of alcohol was withdrawn on the same date.

Baker, 55, faced a maximum penalty of 30 penalty units or 18 months jail, or both, magistrate Kathy Crittenden said.

But the Hollywood star instead walked from court on a conditional release order to be of good behaviour for nine months.

No conviction was recorded.

An unknown man followed Baker and Ms Dwyer out of court carrying a sign reading “Uber for Baker”.

Mullumbimby Local Court was told Baker was spotted driving by police on July 20, 2024 in Bangalow.

Police saw him crossing over the road’s centre line and appearing to accelerate and decelerate before pulling him over.

Reading from the agreed statement of facts, Ms Crittenden said Baker had “bloodshot eyes, slurred speech” and was “unsteady on his feet”.

The court was told a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) test returned a positive result.

But police were unable to obtain a further breath analysis due to the worldwide outage of Microsoft systems caused by a faulty CrowdStrike update.

Officers instead had to proceed with an “old-fashioned sobriety test”.

Ms Crittenden said Baker was “forthcoming” with police about drinking four glasses of red wine while out at dinner.

“He was apologetic throughout and stated he should not have driven,” she said.

“He was polite, co-operative and extremely remorseful for his actions.”

A bundle of material was tendered in support of Baker, including his completion of a traffic offenders rehabilitation program in the following months.

Character references spoke of Baker’s “significant” contributions to the community, including in the aftermath of the “catastrophic” 2022 floods in NSW’s northern rivers region.

“On the basis of the material, the court has little difficulty in finding Mr Baker is remorseful and is unlikely to reoffend,” Ms Crittenden said.

She said offences of driving under the influence were taken seriously due to the risk they posed to the community’s safety.

Baker was ordered to be of good behaviour for nine months under the conditional release order.

Baker earnt a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his portrayal of Patrick Jane in The Mentalist between 2008 and 2015.

Recently, he was nominated for a TV Week Logie Award and 11 other awards for his role in Boy Swallows Universe, an adaptation of Trent Dalton’s acclaimed novel.