It’s not often that you hear about criminals thanking cops for arresting them, but just such a case showed up in St. Albert court this week.
Gerard Murray Gladue pleaded guilty to one count of impaired operation of a motor vehicle Monday in St. Albert Provincial Court.
Gladue was spotted driving a red pickup truck down St. Albert Trail last July 1 at about 3:30 p.m., provincial Crown prosecutor John Donahoe told the court. Witnesses said he was all over the road and not using his turn signals.
Police caught up to him at the intersection of St. Albert Trail and Bellerose Drive, where he was seen waving at other drivers (and the police officers) before his truck bounced off the curb. When police approached Gladue, he said to them, “Thank you, arrest me, I’m drunk.”
Officers found that Gladue had bloodshot eyes and a can of Budweiser in the trunk’s front console. He refused to give a breath sample, instead asking officers to drive him home.
Gladue had been clean and sober many years, said duty counsel Mac Walker – with his last conviction for impaired driving being more than 10 years ago. “This was a relapse.”
But that record indicates a pattern of problematic behaviour, said Judge Bruce Garriock. He fined Gladue $2,530 and banned him from driving for a year.
A St. Albert driver got a steep fine this week for driving his vehicle into a Grandin-area tree at more than 100 kilometres an hour.
Shawn A. Ratcliffe, 42, pleaded guilty Monday in St. Albert court to one count of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing bodily harm.
Provincial Crown prosecutor Douglas Taylor told the court that Ratcliffe had been driving a vehicle in St. Albert at around 10:35 p.m. last Sept. 15 when he and his passenger crashed into a tree near 45 Gillian Crescent. The passenger was later taken to hospital.
Gillian Crescent is a residential zone with a speed limit of 50. The crash data recorder in the vehicle suggests that it was travelling at about 105 km/h at the time of the crash.
Ratcliffe later told police that he had been drinking prior to the crash. Unopened beer cans were also found in the vehicle. He had no criminal record, but had previously been fined for speeding and failing to obey traffic signals.
Garriock took note of those traffic fines as well as the speed of Ratcliffe’s vehicle in his verdict. Ratcliffe was “darn lucky” the crash turned out as it did, the judge said, as photos of the crash scene suggested it happened very close to nearby homes. “It could have been far more serious than it was.”
Ratcliffe was fined $2,875 and banned from driving for a year.
A Gibbons-area youth who kicked another youth in the head and threatened to kill his family vowed to turn his life around Monday.
A 16-year-old Gibbons youth pleaded guilty to one count each of assault, uttering threats to cause death, and mischief, plus six counts of breaching probation. The youth cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
The young man’s troubles began last Sept. 12, 2012, Donahoe told the court, when the youth kicked another male youth in the head at around 7:45 p.m. at the Gibbons School. The young man later approached that same youth on Dec. 8 outside the Gibbons Mac’s store and “threatened to kill his family with a shotgun and slit his throat while he slept.” He also offered the youth cash if he would drop the charges related to the Sept. 12 assault.
Police investigating a suspected stolen vehicle on Dec. 29 found the young man on the scene. He was drunk and out past curfew. He was also found to be drunk at his grandmother’s house on Feb. 5, 2013. The grandmother called the cops again on May 28 after the youth called her “a number of four-letter words,” Donahoe said, in violation of a court order. The youth also illegally drank alcohol and broke into a Gibbons-area motorhome on May 7.
Apart from 18 days in jail for breaking and entering, Donahoe said that this young man did not have a horrendous criminal record prior to 2012. “All of a sudden, he was out of control.” The youth had already spent about six weeks in jail awaiting trial on these latest charges. “He’s completely off the rails. He needs to get back on track.”
Reading a prepared statement, the young man said he had been attending church and Narcotics Anonymous while in jail, and had been inspired by the Bible to change his life. “I’ve ruined everything I had doing what I did.”
The youth said he planned to live with his dad, who had a job lined up for him, and had sworn off alcohol. He accepted responsibility for his actions, and said he wanted to restart his life and be a role model for his younger brother.
“I just don’t want to keep my life in the gutter,” he said.
Garriock agreed that the youth had been “out of control” during these offences and hoped the youth realized the gravity of his situation. “You’re looking for a chance. This is your chance.”
The youth was sentenced to 18 months probation with numerous conditions and 50 hours of community service.
