Distracted driving case ends in conviction

The colour of a cellular phone may have been disputed in a distracted driving case, but a provincial court judge saw only black and white.

Murray River fisherman Donnie Johnston arrived in court in Georgetown armed with papers and photographs but an attempt to get the case dismissed failed.

“I was so sure that I left half way through hauling my lobster gear to get here and plead my case,’’ he told the judge.

RCMP Const. Jeremey Cormier charged Johnston during the mid-afternoon of April 16 with using a cellphone while driving his truck.

“He was ignorant to me when I pulled him over,’’ said Cormier. “And he called me Einstein.”

Cormier told the court he was in a stealth location seated in a unmarked car and using binoculars when he spotted Johnston driving down Main Street in Montague looking down towards his cellphone.

But Johnston challenged Cormier’s ticket information. The officer identified the accused’s truck as blue and Johnston introduced photographs and insisted his truck was green.

The accused suggested before sentencing that “he who represents himself (in court) has a fool for a client” before he was fined $300