Wealthy businessman Matthew Duncan was slurring his words, swaying and closing one eye to see clearly, while telling police he hadn't been drinking alcohol.
Duncan, the former chief executive of luxury car retailer Trivett???, was driving his black BMW in Woolloomooloo on a Friday evening in November, when he swerved onto the wrong side of the road, narrowly missing an Australian Federal Police car.
The police officers soon found the car stopped in the middle of the road and the 39-year-old sitting in the passenger seat, while two people tried to give him a glass of water.
The locals had seen Duncan on the ground, and were trying to help him.
Duncan, who had grazes on his arms and hands, told police he had not been drinking and was not the driver of the car.
Police watched CCTV footage from the nearby Woolloomooloo Hotel, which showed Duncan falling and stumbling on the roadside.
They found several 50ml bottles of vodka in his car and, after initially refusing to be breath-tested, Duncan blew .342 - nearly seven times the legal limit.
Duncan was convicted on Wednesday of high-range drink driving, driving without carrying a licence and refusing to submit to a breath-test.
He was sentenced to at least eight months' jail, with a maximum term of 15 months, in the Downing Centre Local Court.
He surrendered his phone, and did not look at his father, Greg Duncan, the former executive chairman at Trivett, as he was led away in handcuffs.
But he was locked up for only about two hours, after being granted bail while he appeals against his sentence.
The court heard Duncan has acknowledged his alcoholism, and is having treatment.
He also works with young people as a Salvation Army volunteer.
But magistrate Susan McIntyre said she thought of the worst case scenario when sentencing Duncan, describing the alcohol reading as "mindboggling".
"It's sheer good luck, quite frankly, that nobody else was hurt or killed," Ms McIntyre said.
"It's rare ... that someone with that reading could even manage to drive a vehicle, or even speak."
She noted he was given a good behaviour bond and a disqualification for a high-range drink driving offence in 2013, and had got his licence back only in April last year.
He also has low-range drink driving and a serious speeding offence on his record.
"The court wonders how many opportunities it is that he wants in relation to the commission of serious offences that puts everyone else at risk," Ms McIntyre said.
Duncan's appeal will be heard in the NSW District Court at a later date.
