Impaired driving crash earns 15 days in jail
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/01/2011 (5759 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
For the second time in less than a week, a Brandon judge has handed a first-time drunk driver a tough sentence in the form of jail time instead of a fine.
Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta jailed one driver on Monday and followed that up by jailing another on Thursday.
“When you get out of jail, tell all of your friends that drinking and driving is wrong and that we’re not going to tolerate it in this community,” Hewitt-Michta told Nelson Cruz-Gonzalez.
Last Sunday morning, Cruz-Gonzalez ran a stop sign and hit another vehicle carrying three people. There were no injuries but heavy damage occurred to both vehicles.
At first, Cruz-Gonzalez tried to flee but apparently changed his mind and remained on the scene.
Police detected a strong smell of liquor on Cruz-Gonzalez’s breath, his eyes were bloodshot and his words were slurred. Tests showed he had a blood-alcohol level nearly double the legal limit.
Cruz-Gonzalez has no criminal record, and his lawyer Ryan Fawcett and Crown attorney Marycia Sieklicki both recommended a fine.
Such a fine paired with a driving prohibition is common for first-time impaired drivers.
Hewitt-Michta, however, rejected the fine and opted for jail, pointing out that Cruz-Gonzalez has a bad driving record and that he’d put the safety of the public at risk.
She sentenced him to 15 days in jail, adding she would have jailed him for longer if not for his guilty plea and his lack of a record. She also banned him from driving for 18 months.
Fawcett then asked for an intermittent sentence, typically served on weekends, to accommodate the 30-year-old immigrant from El Salvador’s work at Maple Leaf.
But Hewitt-Michta rejected that suggestion, stating there’s no evidence Cruz-Gonzalez would lose his job if he couldn’t serve his time on weekends.
A weekend sentence wouldn’t send the right message, she said.
Hewitt-Michta handed out the same sentence for another first-time drunk driver on Monday.
Alan Armstrong was also jailed for 15 days and banned from driving for 18 months after hitting and dragging a fire hydrant on Oct. 9. No one was injured in that case.
In both cases, Hewitt-Michta noted the crashes happened at times when other people could be expected to be on the streets, placing their safety at risk.