Mountie charged with drunk driving for the second time

EDMONTON A northern Alberta RCMP corporal recently cleared in a 2016 impaired driving case has been charged with the offence again.

High Prairie RCMP were called June 1 to a convenience store after someone reported confronting a customer about being impaired.

The complainant tried to get the woman to turn over her vehicle keys, but she refused, said RCMP in a Monday news release.

When officers got to the store, they charged a corporal from the McLennan RCMP detachment with impaired driving.

McLennan is about 438 km northwest of Edmonton.

“Maintaining the public trust is one of the key components of policing,” RCMP Chief Supt. Rhonda Blackmore, district commander for Western Alberta, said in the release. “Any conduct that could harm the public’s trust and confidence in their police is taken very seriously.”

Anita Doktor has since been suspended with pay and her duty status is subject to ongoing reviews, said RCMP. In a May 28 written ruling posted online, provincial court Judge Jasmine Sihra found evidence against Doktor fell short of proving her guilt in a 2016 impaired driving case.

Videotaped footage from the time shows Doktor administering a breath test to an impaired driving suspect at the High Prairie detachment and disputes suggestions by two fellow officers she was having co-ordination difficulties, said Sihra in the ruling.

Doktor was off duty Dec. 5, 2016, when roommate and fellow officer Const. Claude Laurin contacted her to ask if she could come into the detachment to obtain a breath sample from the suspect. While Doktor was conducting the testing, Laurin and another officer, Const. J. Lyons, separately concluded she was intoxicated, Sihra noted.

Both officers based their conclusions in part on observations Doktor appeared to be having difficulty with her balance and walking.

“The accused’s motor skills can be independently assessed on the video recordings,” Sihra said in the ruling.

“The observations noted by the officers as to difficulties with walking and balance are not evident on the video.

“On the contrary, the accused demonstrated that she was fluid, co-ordinated and ambidextrous on the date in question.”

The judge accepted that Doktor had been drinking before she was called to the detachment and drove 2.5 km from her home to get there.

“There is clearly evidence of consumption of alcohol on the part of the accused on the date in question,” Sihra noted. “Such evidence consists of the odour of alcohol emanating from her breath.”

Any conduct that could harm the public’s trust and confidence in their police is taken very seriously.

But that does not prove impairment, Sihra ruled.

“The court accepts that the accused attended at the detachment after she had consumed alcohol,” Sihra wrote.

“However, the evidence on the whole is insufficient to convince the court beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused’s ability to operate a motor vehicle was impaired by alcohol. The video evidence either refutes the officers’ testimony of physical issues observed on the accused’s part or else does not capture it.”

The judge noted that Doktor finished the breath testing on the subject and when she said was going home, Laurin told her she couldn’t drive and demanded her keys, causing her to cry.