Jonathan Whitton must have changed his mind.
Jonathan Whitton must have changed his mind.
The 24-year-old Sarnia resident pulled into the London Road McDonald’s drive-thru lane in the early-morning hours of Oct. 29, 2021, but his white Volkswagen kept moving.
“Continuing at a high rate of speed and not stopping at the window to order anything,” assistant Crown attorney Josie Baier said this week in a Sarnia courtroom.
Whitton kept driving through the London Road Shopping Center plaza towards Giant Tiger, which was closed since it was nearly 3 am that Friday. A Sarnia police officer caught up with him outside the discount retailer, got out of their cruiser and tried to talk to him.
“Whitton took off,” Baier said.
The officer got back in their cruiser and stopped him again behind electronics repair store uBreakiFix, which is a dead-end alley. Whitton, who showed signs of being impaired, was arrested and taken to headquarters for testing.
One breath sample came back at more than twice the legal limit, but he refused to give a second sample.
“Mr. Whitton was given numerous chances to provide that second sample, but he refused to do so,” Baier said.
Whitton, who had no prior criminal record, was charged with impaired driving and failing or refusing to provide a breath sample. Now 25, he pleaded guilty Tuesday to the latter charge and was sentenced to a $2,000 fine and a one-year driving ban.
“Mr. Whitton, I hope you’ve learned a lesson from the situation,” Justice Deborah Austin said. “Your decision to take a cab to a car to drive it when you’re in that condition jeopardizes the safety of others.”
Whitton, who declined a chance to address the court, drew police attention while heading to the fast-food restaurant from a nearby bar. He’d taken a taxi to the bar, but the cabbie called police after watching his fare stumble out of the car, get behind the wheel of his Volkswagen and take off. An officer patrolling London Road did a U-turn and followed him into the drive-thru.