‘You’re going to kill yourself’ — impaired driver gets dire warning

A Cambridge man who had a potentially lethal cocktail of drugs in his system when he passed out behind the wheel of a running car got a dire warning from a judge.

“Please address the drug issue because you present a danger to the public, but given what was in your system and in your possession, you’re going to kill yourself — no ifs, ands or buts,” Justice John Lynch told him this week in Kitchener court.

Police were called to a parking lot near Blair Road and George Street North in North Dumfries Township in June 2019 and found the man, 37, slumped over in the driver’s seat. He had glossy eyes and “a long, blank stare,” said Crown prosecutor Erin Jamieson. He had trouble standing.

Tests revealed drugs in his system, including carfentanil, fentanyl, morphine, codeine, methamphetamine and amphetamines. A syringe was in the back seat.

Police found carfentanil — a synthetic opioid designed to tranquillize elephants — in his pocket.

The man, who lives with his mother and takes care of her, pleaded guilty to impaired driving, his second impaired conviction in 11 years.

“Fentanyl and carfentanil are just plain and simply killers,” the judge told him.

“When you sit here long enough (as a judge), you get to know some people because they appear on a regular basis and they’re ingesting the same substances that you are, and then you just don’t see them anymore. They didn’t reform.” They died, he said. “Unless you want to be there, and I’m sure you don’t — I’m sure your mother doesn’t want you dying on her — then you need to take substance abuse counselling seriously because the other choice is a pretty final one.”

The judge agreed to a recommendation from the Crown and the selfrepresented accused: a two-year driving ban, four months house arrest and a year of probation. He was ordered to get help to quit drugs.

“I have been working on my drug problem for the entire time since this happened,” the man said. “It’s not easy, but I have been making steps in the right direction.”

That’s one of the reasons the Crown agreed to house arrest.

The driving ban is absolute — he can’t even back a car out of a driveway, Lynch said. “It also means that if you and your mom drove up here from Cambridge today, you can’t drive back.”

The judge said if the man drives, he will likely face 30 days in jail. He said his mother drove him to court and she planned to drive him back.

Lynch recalled a case years ago at the Cambridge courthouse where a man immediately thumbed his nose at a driving ban.

“A fellow that I had prohibited from driving walked out the courthouse front door, around the building out into the parking lot and got in his car,” the judge said.

“He made it as far as the gate before the Crown attorney of the day arrested him and made him sit on the sidewalk until a police officer from the courthouse came out and took charge of him and cuffed him.”

‘‘ You need to take substance abuse counselling seriously because the other choice is a pretty final one.

JOHN LYNCH JUDGE