Drunk driver tore bumper off her car
Linda Burgess, 69, of Oromocto, admits to impaired driving; refusal counts withdrawn
An Oromocto woman who rendered her car inoperable when she struck a structure this summer turned out to be impaired at the time, a court heard Wednesday.
Linda Burgess, 69, of Hillcrest Court in Oromocto, appeared in Fredericton provincial court Wednesday with defence lawyer T.J. Burke to answer to three criminal charges: one of impaired driving and two counts of refusing breath demands.
Burke noted his client was pleading guilty to the impaired-driving charge.
Crown prosecutor Karen Lee said the charge arose after the RCMP responded to a single motor-vehicle accident on Black Watch Avenue in Oromocto.
She said officers happened upon two people standing by a Honda Civic, and the bumper was nearly torn off the small car.
“The vehicle was not operable at the moment,” the prosecutor said.
Burgess was one of the people at the scene, court heard, and she’d been driving the car. The other person, Lee said, was a passerby who stopped upon spotting the accident scene.
Burgess said she had struck something - a curb or a concrete divider - but she couldn’t specify what.
“She wasn’t sure what she had hit at that point,” the prosecutor said.
An officer noticed signs of impairment and suspected Burgess might have been under the influence of alcohol, court heard.
He asked Burgess to provide a breath sample for an approved roadside screening device, Lee said, but the defendant tried but was unable to do so. She was later again unable to produce a sufficient breath sample for the breathalyzer at the police station.
The prosecutor said the defence has since provided the Crown’s office with medical information showing that Burgess has a pulmonary issue that prevented her from providing breath samples on the date in question.
As a result, she said, the prosecution was withdrawing those charges.
In court Wednesday, Burgess had an oxygen tank with her and she was using it by means of a nasal hose.
The prosecutor said the accident was a significant aggravating factor in the case, but there were several mitigating elements the Crown considered, including Burgess’ lack of a criminal record and early guilty plea.
As such, she recommended the minimum fine and driving prohibition.
“This is obviously a one-off,” Burke said Wednesday, telling the court his client was remorseful.
She’s since sold her car after getting it repaired, he said, and she’s also unemployed. As such, Burke asked the court to waive the customary victim-fine surcharge given his client’s financial circumstances.
Judge Cameron Gunn accepted the sentencing recommendation, noting it does sound like this was an isolated incident.
He imposed the minimum fine of $1,000 and a one-year driving ban, and he waived the $300 victim-fine surcharge.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.