Smash-up derby downtown leads to refusal offence
Christopher Alan Mercer, 46, was fined Tuesday and barred from driving after admitting to failing to comply with breathalyzer demand
A Fredericton man couldn’t stand unassisted when police pulled him from his vehicle earlier this year, court heard Tuesday, and he flatly refused to blow into a breathalyzer.
Christopher Alan Mercer, 46, of Forest Hill Road, made his initial appearance in Fredericton provincial court Tuesday on charges of impaired driving and refusing a breathalyzer demand.
He pleaded guilty to the latter count.
Crown prosecutor Kathleen Jacobs said Fredericton police officers were dispatched to the downtown core after receiving reports of a vehicle driving erratically.
The car had smashed into several other vehicles in the area of the Tannery, she said, and when police arrived on the scene, the offending vehicle - driven by Mercer - didn’t stop.
Police activated their cruisers’ lights and sirens, court heard, but the car made its way to the corner of King and Westmorland streets, only to stop momentarily and then back up.
Jacobs said Mercer’s vehicle eventually did stop in the area, and officers confronted the driver.
“Mr. Mercer was slurring his words,” the prosecutor said. “Officers basically had to hold onto him to keep him standing.”
When he was taken to the nearby police station and asked to provide a breath sample, she said, Mercer refused three times.
Jacobs, noting Mercer has no prior criminal record, asked the court to impose the minimum fine of $2,000 and a driving prohibition.
Defence lawyer Emily Cochrane noted Mercer pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.
She said the loss of his licence due to the incident has limited his earning potential, and he now subsists on a monthly income of only $1,200 as a part-time music teacher.
Cochrane said the Crown’s recommended sentence was appropriate, but she asked the court to waive the customary 30 per cent victim-fine surcharge (which would come to $600), given his limited ability to pay.
Judge Cameron Gunn agreed, imposing the $2,000 fine and waiving the surcharge.
He also barred Mercer from driving for a year.
Jacobs withdrew with the impaired-driving charge, as it was an alternate count.
You can contact Don MacPherson at ftonindependent@gmail.com.