A Sarnia-Lambton man has been convicted of impaired driving for sleeping in his car after drinking.
The court heard Sarnia police were called on Aug. 11 about a man asleep behind the wheel of a black Chrysler on St. Clair Parkway. An officer found it parked outside a home near Courtright and saw Cory Trenouth, 34, inside with his head resting on the door.
After he woke up, the officer asked for his ownership and insurance documents.
“(The officer) could clearly see the insurance slip while the accused continued to go through papers and almost dropped the folder,” assistant Crown attorney Josie Baier said while reading an agreed statement of facts.
He finally handed her the ownership, but again the officer had to ask for the insurance slip.
“At which point Mr. Trenouth provided her with a second ownership for the vehicle instead of the insurance,” Baier said.
After asking for it a third time, she finally received it. The officer asked Trenouth if he’d had any alcohol or drugs. He told her he had some beers earlier that day.
Trenouth had to lean on the car for support when he got out and smelled like alcohol, so he was arrested. Breath tests back at headquarters showed he had between 172 and 175 milligrams of alcohol in 100 milliliters of blood.
The legal limit is 80 milligrams.
“Over twice the legal limit,” Justice Mark Poland pointed out.
Trenouth, a member of a local union who had no prior criminal record, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one charge of impaired driving.
“This incident was pure and simple a miscalculation,” defense lawyer James Guggisberg said.
But he pleaded guilty quickly and is regretful, he added.
Poland explained why it’s illegal for a person to be behind the wheel with alcohol in their system.
“People in that kind of a situation can make mistakes, can set the vehicle in motion, can make an unfortunate decision to drive after they’ve been drinking,” he said.
He noted impaired drivers leave an unfortunate trail of devastation in the Sarnia-Lambton community.
“I’m sure you’d hate to be here or waking up the next morning realizing that you’d hurt yourself or, God forbid, hurt or killed someone else as a result,” he said.
Guggisberg suggested an $1,800 fine while Baier countered with $2,100. Poland imposed a $2,000 fine plus a $600 victim-fine surcharge and a one-year driving ban.