Impaired driver receives $1,500 fine, ban
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/02/2021 (2022 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A man was fined $1,500 and banned from driving for a year on Thursday after pleading guilty to an impaired driving charge.
Aaron Cote pleaded guilty in Brandon provincial court to being in care and control of a vehicle while impaired in a July 14, 2019 incident.
Crown attorney Caroline Lacey said police were patrolling in the 700 block of 18th Street at approximately 1:40 a.m. when they saw a van motionless and parked in the wrong direction in a parking lot.
When officers approached, they saw Cote slumped in the seat. Lacey said that Cote was unresponsive when police talked to him, but was awoken with “physical stimuli.”
He had a slow response and officers could smell alcohol on him, she told the court.
Cote was arrested and put in the back of the police cruiser, where he identified himself. Lacey said his speech was slurred while in the cruiser.
The accused gave two breath samples — one at 160 and the other at 150 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit in Manitoba is 80 milligrams of alcohol.
Lacey asked the judge to sentence Cote to the minimum sentence on a first impaired driving charge — a $1,500 fine and a year-long ban from driving.
“It is quite concerning the manner police found him in,” she said.
“Being intoxicated in a vehicle, however he got himself there, is never OK, and serious consequences will follow,” she said.
Defence lawyer Mike Cook said Cote has been anxious to deal with the charge for some time, but COVID-19 pushed back the date it could go to court.
Speaking to the court by phone, Cote said he has been sober for four months and has gotten help for his alcohol use. He said he apologizes for his actions.
Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta went along with the sentence jointly recommended by both the Crown and defence.
“The best thing I’ve heard is that you’re sober for a number of months now … I hope you can maintain your sobriety and move forward in a positive direction. You’re very fortunate you didn’t hurt yourself or someone else driving with that level of alcohol in your system.”
Hewitt-Michta sentenced Cote to a $1,500 fine and a one-year ban from driving.
» dmay@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @DrewMay