Charges: Drunk Priest Attacks Cop, Paramedic

'I'm from the Vatican, you're f---ed!'
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 4, 2016 4:50 PM CDT
Charges: Drunk Priest Attacks Cop, Paramedic
Vicar Gareth Jones   (St. Mary and the Virgin)

A British priest pleaded guilty Friday to drunkenly assaulting a police officer and paramedic while claiming diplomatic immunity from the Vatican, the Guardian reports. According to the Sun, a paramedic found 36-year-old Gareth Jones, vicar at London's St. Mary and the Virgin, passed out in the street in his clerical frock. He had consumed “three bottles of wine, several pints of beer, a number of gin and tonics, and vodka.” When the paramedic tried to wake Jones up, Jones allegedly attacked him. An officer came over to help, and Jones allegedly kicked, bit, and punched the two before he could be controlled.

During the struggle, Jones claimed to "have diplomatic immunity," telling the officer and paramedic, "I’m from the Vatican, you’re f---ed!” That's probably not true, as Jones is ordained through the Church of England, which is a different denomination than the Roman Catholic Church. Jones, a married father, could receive a lifetime ban from the church. “He is deeply ashamed," his defense tells the Guardian. "He is entirely remorseful.” (More Church of England stories.)

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