‘Not one of the wise men’: Drunken driver tries to hide from police in Nativity scene

The Tadcaster, England, tableau had all the necessary components of a good Nativity scene.

Infant Christ? Check.

Mary and Joseph? Check.

Three wise men? Farm animals resting on a bed of hay? Check and check.

It was the suspected drunk driver who seemed out of place.

The North Yorkshire Police Roads Policing Group said that a man attempted to hide from police in a Nativity scene after crashing his car into a metal barrier Saturday.

The man – easily distinguishable from the rest of the characters in by virtue of being not being an inanimate object – was apprehended and given a breathalyzer test, which he failed.

Twitter responses were full of characteristically wry British humor.

Paul Cording, a senior investigating officer with the roads policing group, started things off:

“Gold” star to my @NYorksRPG colleagues as one “myrrh” drink driver with no (frankin)”cense” is taken off the road”

More puns swiftly followed:

“@NYorksRPG @andyp05 God arrest ye merry gentlemen” and “Suggest you charge him with Mangerous Driving.”

As well as less-than-flattering comparisons to the drunk driver’s inanimate companions in the Nativity scene, “@NYorksRPG obviously not one of the wise men”

Studies have shown that fatalities in the U.S. from alcohol-impaired driving spike on Christmas and New Year's. Both holidays see between 25 and nearly 50 percent more deaths than an average day during the month of December, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Take a cab, folks.

This story was originally published December 14, 2015 at 8:01 AM with the headline "‘Not one of the wise men’: Drunken driver tries to hide from police in Nativity scene."