‘I’m going to blow over’
Joshua Edward Bubar, 40, of Harvey, caught driving drunk after he went off road and got stuck in snowbank in Fredericton during heavy police presence in city in early 2022
A Harvey man told police he knew he was drunk after his vehicle was found stuck in a snowbank early last year, court heard Thursday.
Joshua Edward Bubar, 40, of 45 Cherry St. in Harvey, previously pleaded guilty to counts of impaired driving and drug possession, and he was back in Fredericton provincial court Thursday for a sentencing hearing.
Crown prosecutor Nina Johnsen said on the second weekend of February 2022, there was an increased police presence in Fredericton due to a Freedom Convoy protest in the capital coinciding with similar such demonstrations elsewhere in the country.
It was at 8 a.m. Feb. 13, 2022, she said, that an officer stationed at a checkpoint took note of “a small black car travelling at a high rate of speed.”
The suspect vehicle left the area after coming upon the checkpoint, court heard, so police were on the lookout for it, given the odd driving.
The car was found a short time later in a snowbank along Route 8 on the south side of Fredericton, Johnsen said.
“The driver said he was OK,” she said, adding the motorist - identified as Bubar - didn’t have a licence or insurance information with him.
An officer noted there was an odour of alcohol coming from Bubar, the prosecutor said, and empty cans for alcoholic beverages could be seen in the car.
As such, court heard, he was given a demand for a sample of his breath.
“Mr. Bubar advised, ‘I’m going to blow over,’” Johnsen said.
Shortly thereafter, she said, a breathalyzer test revealed his blood-alcohol level to be 190 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, more than double the 80 mg that’s the starting point for impaired-driving offences.
Officers also found some pills in Bubar’s possession that turned out to be benzodiazepines, a depressant or downer, court heard
The prosecutor filed Bubar’s prior criminal record with the court, and Judge Lucie Mathurin noted that while most of the entries were motor-vehicle infractions, there was also a prior drug-possession conviction
Johnsen asked the court to impose standard fines.
Defence lawyer Edward Derrah said Bubar has been faring much better since his arrest last year and is now employed as a cook.
As for the pills, he said, the defendant had been seeking painkillers on the street to deal with chronic pain due to a motor-vehicle accident.
“He bought what he thought were Dilaudids on the street,” Derrah said, noting Bubar has since moved away from illicit drugs to deal with that issue.
Mathurin imposed a $2,000 fine for the impaired driving, a $100 fine for the drug possession and customary victim-fine surcharges of $630, for a total of $2,730.
She also prohibited him from driving for a year anywhere in Canada.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.