There are certain things one expects to see in court every week.
An assault related to the C.I. Thefts from Walmart and/or the SLGA store. All kinds of sundry poverty- and addictions-related crimes from mischief to sexual assault.
A lot of the time it’s kind of sad.
There is also usually a pretty healthy dose of just plain old dumbassery.
Alternative measures is a program whereby certain offenders for certain types of offences are given an opportunity to walk away without a criminal record. It is a great deal. Sometimes restitution to a victim is involved, other times counselling, but the bottom line is, it is a second chance before you end up in the system.
It boggles my mind that anybody would miss an opportunity to take advantage of this. Sure enough, though, this week the Crown reinstated charges against a guy who just didn’t bother completing the program.
How stupid do you have to be?
Speaking of, it’s not unusual to see people breach probation, conditional sentences and other kinds of undertakings. It’s easy enough to do. You forget to call your probation officer, you fall off the wagon on a night the cops decide to check up on you, you run into someone you’re not supposed to have contact with.
On Monday, though, we had a guy in custody whose probation was scheduled to finish today. He managed for a year, or however long it was, to not breach (or at least not get caught) and can’t keep his nose clean for three lousy days?
And then there are the drunks. This week we had a guy, who was driving so drunk police had to help him to the squad car. He couldn’t walk, but decided to drive. His samples at the detachment turned up blood-alcohol-content (BAC) of .370, more than four times the legal limit.
Here’s the official description for BAC of .30-.50:
Symptoms are complete unconsciousness, depressed or absent reflexes, subnormal body temperature, incontinence, and impairment of circulation and respiration.
Death may occur at .370 or higher. BACs of .450 and higher are fatal to nearly all individuals.
He no longer has a licence and owes the Province $2,340. He is lucky he’s not dead.
