A man whose impaired driving resulted in a crash last year opted to pay a heavy fine by spending time in jail.
Michael Degroot pleaded guilty to a single count of driving with a blood alcohol exceeding the legal limit and was handed a $1,500 fine. Degroot is being held on unrelated charges at the Edmonton Remand Centre and asked the court to give him no time to pay the fine, forcing him to pay off the fine by remaining in custody.
Police were called to a crash on March 14, 2009 at about 10 a.m. at the intersection of Sir Winston Churchill Avenue and Levasseur Road.
When they arrived on scene, several witnesses came forward and said they thought one of the drivers was impaired.
When they approached Degroot, who was in a damaged Honda Civic in the middle of the intersection, they detected the odour of alcohol.
An officer went with Degroot to the hospital and collected a blood sample that had a concentration of 0.175, nearly twice the legal limit.
To pay off the fine he will have to spend 21 days in jail. He will also be prohibited from driving for one year.
A 40-year-old man, caught riffling through cars earlier this month pleaded guilty this week and received a 90-day jail sentence.
Harry Gordon Miller pleaded guilty, on Monday, to a single count of theft and one count of drug possession.
He had been in jail for 24 days and was given one-and-a-half times credit, for a total of 36 days, leaving him with 54 days to serve.
An off-duty police officer spotted Miller rummaging through vehicles on April 14 and called local RCMP.
When they arrested him he had an iPod adapter that was identified as stolen and a half-gram of methamphetamine.
Police found a local man at home when they checked up on him, but what he was doing cost him $300.
David Thomas Read pleaded guilty to a single count of breaching his bail conditions and was handed the fine.
Police checked in on Read while he was out on bail to make sure he was at home as required under a court ordered curfew.
When they came to the door there was a strong odour of marijuana smoke coming from within the home. When Read came forward, he was visibly intoxicated.
Officers noticed a strong smell of alcohol and arrested him.
