Bad judgment leads to jail time

A 54-year-old P.E.I. man who was seen by police driving erratically before going off the road and into a pole was sentenced to five months in jail for refusing the breathalyzer and driving while disqualified.

Oliver Timothy White appeared before Justice Terri MacPherson in Supreme Court of P.E.I. recently for sentencing.

White has three prior offences related to driving while impaired, the most recent one in January 2016. The court heard in the presentence report most people interviewed feel White has a problem with alcohol. However, White describes himself as a social drinker.

“He says on this night he was playing cards at a bar and he left from the bar, and I would suggest that it is a bit more than social drinking given how clearly intoxicated he was on this occasion,” said Crown attorney Nathan Beck.

Beck says at the time of his arrest, White was belligerent with police.

Defence attorney Yolande Murphy says alcohol has been a source of the problems in White’s life, but he is otherwise described as “being a great guy”.

She says White accepts full responsibility for his actions and pleaded guilty early on in the proceedings.

“He regrets his bad judgment and he is also thankful that nobody else was injured in the accident,” said Murphy.

White was sentenced to five months for refusing to comply with a breath demand and one month concurrent for driving while disqualified. He was also given 18 months’ probation, a three-year driving prohibition and must pay $400 to the victims of crime fund.