14. Regina v. S.C.F. [Provincial Court of Alberta, Calgary –April 2014]

Charged with impaired driving and refusing to provide samples of breath for roadside analysis. The police stopped SCF for running a stop sign. The police could smell alcohol on the breath of SCF so they demanded that he provide a sample of his breath for roadside analysis. SCF’s immediate response was “no, just charge me”. The police were pleased to honour SCF’s request and charged him accordingly. Patrick Fagan entered pleas of not guilty to both charges and scheduled a trial. Bottom Line: As the indicia of impairment was very minimal at best the Crown decided to withdraw that charge and proceed on the refusal alone. The problem with the refusal prosecution, however, was that the Information (formal charging document) was improperly drafted and could not be amended to correct the flaw. Ultimately . . . the charge refusal was withdrawn as well.