Man fined for failure to comply
By Delon Shurtz on February 3, 2021.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com Who says police are hard to get along with?The Lethbridge officer who responded to a collision involving a suspected drunk driver last month was more than accommodating, and happy to comply with a request by the driver.
Jan Albert Zwart had rear-ended another vehicle, and when the officer arrived he noticed Zwart’s speech was slurred, he was unsteady on his feet, and he appeared impaired. When the officer asked Zwart if he had anything to drink that day, Zwart simply said “nothing,” before changing his mind and admitting he did “a little awhile ago.”
Zwart was told to he would have to breathe into an ASD, approved screening device, but he refused and told the officer just to give him the breathalyzer. The officer said he needed to use the ASD first, but Zwart became upset at the process and again refused to provide a breath sample and demanded “just charge me now.”
So the officer did.
Zwart pleaded guilty Monday in Lethbridge provincial court to one count of refusal to comply with a breath demand. He was fined the minimum amount of $2,000, and levied an additional surcharge. He is also prohibited from driving for one year. Follow @DShurtzHerald on Twitter 4
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