Impaired driver’s rights weren’t breached - judge

Counsel for Amanda Lavoie, 40, of Fredericton, argued cop didn’t have grounds to make breath demands of defendant in September 2022 after tip called in about her driving drunk

A Fredericton woman was fined and barred from driving for a year after a judge ruled Monday a police officer didn’t violate her Charter rights when he arrested her on suspicion of impaired driving.

Amanda Lavoie, 40, of Diana Lane, stood trial in Fredericton provincial court last fall on alternate charges of operating a car while impaired and having an elevated blood-alcohol level within two hours of driving.

Defence lawyer Emily Cochrane had filed an application to exclude breathalyzer evidence against her client on the basis that a Fredericton police officer had violated her Charter rights.

Lavoie was back in court with her lawyer Monday to hear Judge Natalie LeBlanc’s decision on the issue and the trial as a whole.