She had slurred her way through the order and staff, concerned by her odd behaviour, went to check on her.
They found the 29-year-old lying across her car’s centre console. They roused her and she drove back around the drive-thru.
As one officer tried to open her car door she sat up, started the car and drove it straight into their divisional van.
Despite being pepper sprayed she reversed, knocked an officer to the ground and pinned another between the car and a wall.
“Courtney, stop the car,” he cried out as it caused crush injuries and bruising to his abdomen. The wing mirror snapped off under the pressure.
She didn’t stop. Instead, she drove away, running over the ankle of the officer she had earlier knocked down, causing multiple fractures that required surgical pinning.
Pollard mounted the median strip and fishtailed onto the road.
For 50 minutes on the afternoon of December 29, 2020, she was pursued by multiple officers and police air wing, driving erratically across Melbourne’s northern suburbs, hitting a parked car and a bin before ploughing into a tree.
She ran off and into a house, where she asked for a glass of water.
The occupant said no, so she ran next door and was arrested.
Pollard has a lengthy criminal history, including jail time for dangerous driving, and a history of substance abuse starting at 12.
She has post-traumatic stress disorder among other mental disorders.
But County Court Judge Gavan Meredith said while her decision-making was poor and drug-fuelled there was a rational basis for her conduct and there wasn’t enough evidence to connect it to her mental difficulties.
He jailed Pollard for five years and four months.
She has already served half of the minimum three-year non-parole period.
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