A judge was alarmed to hear about a Sarnia dump truck driver who had a cooler of beer in the cab and was about 4.5 times the legal limit when he crashed into a hydro pole on an industrial road in the city’s south end.
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“Those are scary readings,” the judge said while sentencing Jessi Hogarth to a $2,500 fine, a driving ban and probation. “Those aren’t the highest readings I or my colleagues have seen, but they’re certainly among the highest readings.”
Sarnia police previously said a dump truck heading north on Scott Road at St. Andrew Street around 10:20 am on Sept. 10 failed to navigate the turn and crashed into the ditch. Hogarth, 33, tried unsuccessfully to reverse out of the ditch several times and when officers arrived he appeared dazed, moved slowly, and had glossy and bloodshot eyes, the court heard.
No one was hurt and Hogarth, with slurred words, declined medical attention. He was arrested and officers found a cooler with cold beers inside. The court heard they found four tall boy beer cans and one was open.
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Breath tests back at headquarters showed he had between 350 and 360 milligrams of alcohol in 100 milliliters of blood, about 4.5 times the legal limit of 80 milligrams. The judge again pointed out the very high readings.
“The difference between you hitting a telephone pole and hitting a pedestrian or a cyclist or another car is pure luck,” he said. “It’s Russian roulette.”
Hogarth, who had no prior criminal record, recently convicted of driving impaired. Nila Mulpuru, Lambton’s acting Crown attorney, asked for a $3,000 fine, three times higher than the mandatory minimum of $1,000 for a first-time offender.
“That is to account for the significant readings in this case as well as the collision and the fact that it was a commercial vehicle,” she said.
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Hogarth, who represented himself in court, told the judge he was driving part-time and had been out of trucking for many years after being in a serious crash.
“The day in question I just went out the night before and made a bad judgment call coming in the next day,” he said. “My boss gives me a little bit of a hard time for not showing up when I’m needed so I felt obliged to arrive for duty.”
He added he didn’t think he had a problem with alcohol. The judge suggested adding one year of probation to look into that issue further. He also decided to lower the fine to $2,500 and impose a mandatory one-year driving ban.
A second charge police laid at the time was dropped.
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