Close X
Friday, November 22, 2024
ADVT 
National

Top court to weigh timing of roadside breath tests

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 18 Nov, 2021 03:59 PM
  • Top court to weigh timing of roadside breath tests

OTTAWA - The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to hear a case that hinges on the time police took to arrange a breath test for a Quebec man.

Early one afternoon in April 2017, police got word of someone allegedly driving an all-terrain vehicle while drunk, arrived at the scene and stopped Pascal Breault, who was walking away.

Asked if he had been drinking, Breault said he'd had one beer, but insisted he had not been driving the vehicle, contradicting trail patrollers who had contacted the police.

The officers did not have an approved screening device — used to take an initial breath sample in advance of a full breathalyzer test of blood alcohol levels — so they radioed other nearby officers to obtain a device.

Breault repeatedly refused to provide a breath sample and was found guilty of failing to comply with a police officer's demand, even though there was no device at the scene and one never did arrive.

Breault was acquitted when the Quebec Court of Appeal ruled the officer's demand was invalid due to a provision which, at the time, required that a breath sample be provided "forthwith."

 

MORE National ARTICLES

Canada could OK kids vaccine in '1 to 2 weeks'

Canada could OK kids vaccine in '1 to 2 weeks'
Canada's chief medical adviser Dr. Supriya Sharma said in a conference call with reporters Friday that the regulator is "actively continuing" its review of the Pfizer-BioNtech jab for children aged five to 11, which was authorized for use in the United States earlier this month.

Canada could OK kids vaccine in '1 to 2 weeks'

Ng disappointed, not daunted by US protectionism

Ng disappointed, not daunted by US protectionism
Mary Ng said that includes the revival of Buy American provisions in President Joe Biden's massive new infrastructure bill, which are creating more hurdles for foreign companies to bid on lucrative projects.

Ng disappointed, not daunted by US protectionism

B.C. Remembrance Day gatherings disrupted

B.C. Remembrance Day gatherings disrupted
A lawyer says he and his two young daughters left what he thought was a Remembrance Day ceremony In Kamloops after it turned out to be a protest against British Columbia's vaccine mandate. 

B.C. Remembrance Day gatherings disrupted

VPD investigates city's 15th homicide

VPD investigates city's 15th homicide
Yesterday morning, staff at a social housing complex near Main and East Cordova streets found Joshua Hough, 43, deceased in his suite. One arrest has been made, and the investigation is ongoing.

VPD investigates city's 15th homicide

Woman hurt in Toronto van attack dies of injuries

Woman hurt in Toronto van attack dies of injuries
Toronto police say in a release that Amaresh Tesfamariam, who was 65, died on Oct. 28. She had been in hospital since April 23, 2018, after Alek Minassian drove a rental van down the sidewalk of Yonge Street killing 10 people and injuring another 16.

Woman hurt in Toronto van attack dies of injuries

Heavy rain, snow forecast for parts of B.C.

Heavy rain, snow forecast for parts of B.C.
The statements for Metro Vancouver, Fraser Valley, Howe Sound and the Sunshine Coast say rainfall amounts of 75 to 120 millimetres is on the way Saturday evening and will continue through to Monday.

Heavy rain, snow forecast for parts of B.C.