Impaired driving nets $2,000 fine, 15-month ban

A man has been fined $2,000 and is prohibited from operating a vehicle for more than a year after driving with a blood-alcohol level of twice the legal limit in Keeseekoowenin First Nation.

Terris Mintuck, 24, pleaded guilty in Brandon provincial court on Tuesday to driving with a blood-alcohol level over 0.08.

The Crown and defence both recommended a $2,000 fine and 15-month driving prohibition.

Crown attorney Easton Lacey outlined the circumstances of the offence.

On June 16, 2025, Yellowhead RCMP received a report that Mintuck was driving intoxicated around the community in a White Chrysler 300 at around 5:40 p.m.

The caller said the suspect was “all over the reserve” and couldn’t give a specific location, Lacey said. She said police were further advised that Mintuck had been seen walking around the community with a bottle of vodka and that there was a woman in the car with him.

Lacey said when the call initially came in, RCMP were dealing with a different matter in another community and didn’t respond until around 7 p.m.

Mounties saw a vehicle matching the earlier description parked in a driveway, she said.

The vehicle “sped” off, and police turned on their emergency lights but didn’t pursue the vehicle, the Crown said. Instead, she said they tracked the car, and when it pulled into a driveway at a different residence, police followed and pulled in behind the vehicle.

Police identified Mintuck as the driver and took him to the police station, where he provided two breath samples, both resulting in readings of 0.160.

“These are aggravating readings,” Lacey said. “This is a dangerous situation he put himself, his passenger and anyone else on the road in, which is evidenced by a bystander calling in the offence.”

She said it’s also aggravating that he spent a “considerable” amount of time driving, as the initial call came in around an hour before police found him.

Defence lawyer Jonathan Richert said that when he first asked his client if there was anything going on in his life at the time of the offence, Mintuck said he had gone through some trauma but didn’t want to blame his actions on that.

Richert said after some prodding, he found out that Mintuck’s parents had died within a short period of time roughly one year prior to the offence.

Mintuck turned to drinking to cope with the grief but will soon be going into a six-week treatment program, Richert said.

He pointed out that the court shouldn’t assume Mintuck had been driving consistently for an hour, as he could have stopped somewhere between the time the police were called and when he was arrested.

Judge Patrick Sullivan imposed the recommended sentence and emphasized the dangers of impaired driving.

» sanderson@brandonsun.com