City woman blew 3½ times over legal limit
Lori Elizabeth Armstrong, 55, of Fredericton, sought treatment after impaired-driving arrest
A Fredericton woman wiped away tears Monday as a court heard about how a breathalyzer test last fall revealed she’d been at the wheel with 3½ times the legal limit of booze in her system.
Lori Elizabeth Armstrong, 55, of Sherwood Court, made her first appearance in Fredericton provincial court Monday on an allegation of impaired driving.
She pleaded guilty immediately.
Crown prosecutor Rodney Jordan said the city police received an urgent call from a motorist Nov. 7 about another driver who was driving erratically and was possibly impaired.
Police responded to the scene on Barker Street, the prosecutor said, and found a vehicle, which had been driven by Armstrong, parked in the middle of the street.
He said the other motorist who’d called in the report told an officer that Armstrong had struck a curb and ran a stop sign before coming to a stop in the middle of the road.
When an officer approached Armstrong, Jordan said, there was a strong smell of alcohol coming from her, among other signs of impairment.
She was arrested and taken back to the city police station, court heard, where she blew a breathalyzer reading of 280 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, 3½ times the legal limit of 80 mg.
The prosecutor said the defendant has no prior criminal history, and given that and her early guilty plea, he recommended the minimum fine, which was $2,000 with the higher reading.
However, he said that elevated blood-alcohol level merited a driving prohibition of greater duration than the minimum of 12 months, suggesting a 15-month ban instead.
Defence lawyer Emily Cochrane said her client is a first-time offender who’s deeply remorseful for her actions.
At the root of the incident, she said, was Armstrong’s alcoholism, adding the defendant also went through a recent separation.
“Following her arrest, she went into detox for a week,” Cochrane said.
Armstrong is 50 days sober now, she said, and is on a waiting list for alcohol-addiction counselling.
The defence lawyer asked the court to impose the minimum fine and driving prohibition given the mitigating factors in her client’s favour.
But Judge Scott Brittain instead accepted the Crown’s recommendation, imposing a $2,000 fine plus a $600 victim-fine surcharge, plus a 15-month ban against driving anywhere in Canada.
He told Armstrong she was quite lucky she or no one else wasn’t hurt, given her level of intoxication.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.
3 1/2 times. (80 x 3.5 = 280) ☺️