Mom fined for drunk driving incident

An Edmonton mother who was drunk when she sped through a residential neighbourhood with two children in the back seat and hit a parked vehicle was fined $2,200 and put on probation Friday.

Nichola Russell, 37, was also prohibited from driving for 18 months after pleading guilty in provincial court to impaired driving.

Judge Joyce Lester agreed to a joint submission for the elevated fine and driving ban and the 18-month period of probation after noting Russell had put herself, her children and the public in “potential danger.”

While on probation, Russell must take psychiatric counselling and alcoholabuse treatment and complete 80 hours of community service.

Crown prosecutor Ryan Abrams told court Russell had been driving a Jeep Compass with her two children, aged four and six, in the back seat at about 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 11, 2014, and was travelling at a “fairly significant” speed in a south-side residential neighbourhood when she struck a parked pickup truck with enough force to move it onto someone’s lawn.

Court was told witnesses heard the crash and came out to find Russell still trying to drive the Jeep despite it being inoperable. Police arrived and noted she was displaying signs of impairment. Abrams said Russell was “un-cooperative and quite belligerent” and refused to provide a breath sample, telling officers “the answer to everything was no.”

Defence lawyer Vern Eichhorn told court Russell moved to Canada from Jamaica when she was young and had no prior criminal record. He said she suffers from an alcohol addiction, but has gone to a treatment facility and continues to take counselling.

Eichhorn also said Russell’s life “went out of control” and she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder prior to the incident when a good friend of hers was shot and killed.