ANTIGONISH: Antigonish County District RCMP arrested two people on impaired driving charges.
At approximately 9:10 p.m. on June 25, while on patrol near a school on Braemore Avenue in Antigonish, the RCMP said in a press release issued today that an officer “observed two vehicles who appeared to be racing each other in a parking lot.”
The RCMP said a traffic stop was conducted on both vehicles and “both drivers were displaying signs of impairment.” They said the drivers provided samples of their breath, which registered as a “fail” on the RCMP approved screening device.
They were arrested and transported to the Antigonish detachment where the men provided more breath samples that registered over the legal limit, according to the RCMP. The drivers, a 19-year-old Ontario man and a 20-year-old Antigonish man, were both released and are facing charges of impaired operation of a conveyance and impaired operation of a conveyance at or over the legal limit, the RCMP said, noting that both men will appear in Antigonish Provincial Court at a later date.
In an email to The Reporter, Cpl. Chris Marshall, the RCMP’s Provincial Public Information Officer, explained why no stunting charges were laid.
“When we charge someone criminally with impaired driving, we cannot charge them with a lesser offence, such as stunting, as the Crown can only offer the evidence on one of the charges,” he added. “Had our investigators (issued) stunting tickets in this case, the driving evidence observed that formed the basis for the traffic stop and the eventual impaired driving charges could not be used for the impaired driving charges.”