Third Time is Very Uncharming

On November 15th at approximately 1:20 pm the Cold Lake RCMP Detachment received a call of a possible intoxicated driver, by McDonald’s on 50th street. S/Sgt Jeremie Landry of the Cold Lake Detachments says it was reported the man, driving a black caravan, was quite visibly intoxicated. Later it was discovered this wasn’t his first offense.

“The man appeared that he couldn’t keep his eyes open, he was red faced, and it appeared he was intoxicated,” S/Sgt Landry says the vehicle had gone through the drive-thru at McDonald’s and it was an employee who reported the incident.

RCMP caught up to the vehicle near Casino Dene and pulled over the caravan. During the traffic stop, RCMP found “beer in the backseat, within access of the driver,” reports the S/Sgt. “The driver was arrested for impaired operation of a motor vehicle.”

Once at the detachment, the man refused to provide a breath sample. Upon further investigation, it was discovered the man had previously been convicted of impaired operation of a motor vehicle over the legal limit of 0.08, on two other occasions.

S/Sgt Landry says there could be harsher punishments considering the prior offenses. “In cases where someone has priors, we can serve what is called a Notice of Intention to seek greater punishment. That’s putting [the accused] on notice that the Crown will seek a higher punishment given that the [accused] has a history of the same offenses. The criminal code does allow for stiffer punishment if you’ve had prior convictions of impaired driving.”

The driver, a 51 year old male from Edmonton, was charged with impaired operation of a motor vehicle, as well as failure to provide breath samples to a qualified technician. He was ticketed for transporting alcohol in a motor vehicle, within easy access of the driver.