Impaired charge dropped, Sarnia officer fined for careless driving

A Sarnia police officer avoided a criminal record, but was hit with a hefty fine and driving limitations for carelessly driving up to the Blue Water Bridge with alcohol in his system.

Sean Van Vlymen, a 46-year-old constable charged last week by Ontario’s police watchdog in a separate case, was also lectured by a judge for the off-duty incident at the busy bridge connecting Michigan and the Sarnia area.

“It goes without saying that Mr. Van Vlymen ought to have known better,” Justice Mark Poland said Wednesday in a Sarnia courtroom while sentencing him for a Highway Traffic Act offence.

“Mr. Van Vlymen, throughout his time as a police officer, has undoubtedly, undoubtedly seen the trail of devastation that taking to the roadway with alcohol in one’s system can result in.”

The court heard the Canada Border Services Agency called Lambton OPP about 3:30 am on March 31 about a man they were holding in custody after he failed a roadside breath test while returning from the United States.

Van Vlymen was taken to headquarters in Petrolia that Friday morning, where breath tests showed he had between 104 and 119 milligrams of alcohol in 100 milliliters of blood, over the legal limit of 80 milligrams.

Van Vlymen was initially charged with a single Criminal Code charge of impaired driving, blood-alcohol concentration 80-plus, but that charge was dropped Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to careless driving under the Highway Traffic Act.

The case is now over, but a criminal charge of assault causing bodily harm ugly last week in a separate case by Ontario’s police watchdog agency, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), is still before the courts.

Van Vlymen’s penalties for careless driving included a $2,000 fine and a one-year Provincial Offenses Act probation order that has several rules related to driving, as lawyers on both sides suggested. Assistant Crown attorney Nick Bazylko, brought in from the Chatham-Kent office to prosecute the case to avoid a conflict of interest for the Sarnia-Lambton office, said they came up with the recommended resolution following several conversations with Van Vlymen’s lawyer, Lucas O’ Hara.

“It’s not uncommon to see a matter of this nature resolve by way of a plea under the Highway Traffic Act,” Poland later responded.

O’Hara pointed out the breath-test readings were on the lower end and Bazylko agreed.

“But still this wasn’t simply a sip of alcohol,” the prosecutor added. “He should have known better.”

Poland also pointed out it was aggravating the incident took place at a border that’s busy even during early-morning hours.

Van Vlymen, wearing black-rimmed glasses, a black dress shirt and a patterned tie, apologized for his actions.

“I made a very bad judgment call and I sincerely apologize,” he said.

Van Vlymen can’t drive with any alcohol in his system for the next year and can only be behind the wheel of his own vehicle, with an interlock device, or a Sarnia police vehicle. But O’Hara said his client has been on leave from work since before the incident.

Sarnia police said in a statement at the time Van Vlymen had been assigned to non-operational duties while Chief Derek Davis directed an internal investigation under the Police Services Act. But police said last week, on the heels of the SIU charge, that Van Vlymen is not assigned to operational duties pending the outcome of that case.

This isn’t the first time Van Vlymen has faced potential discipline. In August 2016, he was demoted from first- to second-class constable for six months after pleading guilty to three counts of misconduct in a hearing through the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD), a civilian oversight agency that investigates public complaints about police.

Van Vlymen is the fifth Sarnia police officer to face criminal charges since August 2020, but only one has been convicted.

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@ObserverTerry

SARNIA POLICE OFFICERS CHARGED SINCE 2020

Van Vlymen is the fifth Sarnia police officer to face criminal charges since August 2020, but only one, former constable Christopher Noordam, has been convicted.

• July 6: Van Vlymen charged by SIU with assault causing bodily harm.
• April 21: Const. Chris Beauchamp charged with assault following an alleged off-duty incident. The case is still before the courts.
• March 31: Van Vlymen charged with impaired driving by Lambton OPP. He was cleared Wednesday following a Highway Traffic Act conviction.
• October 2022: Noordam voluntarily resigned after being convicted of breach of trust for inappropriately – and repeatedly – ​​touching a parole he was supervising during meetings in a private room at Sarnia police headquarters.
• June 2021: A Sarnia police officer previously charged with breaking and entering to commit mischief had the charge tossed out.
• October 2021: A Sarnia police officer was cleared of forgery and attempted fraud.