Interlake ATV thefts prompt RCMP to set up tips line [Photos]
Monday, June 17th, 2013Manitoba RCMP have set up a tips line for auto thefts, including off-road vehicles and construction equipment.
Manitoba stories
Posts Tagged ‘Line’
Teen accused of DWI after crash on Highway 33 near Pitt County line
Tuesday, January 1st, 2013A young man is facing drunk driving charges after allegedly being in a car accident on Highway 13 near the Beaufort-Pitt County line over the weekend. Police believe the teen was heading east on Highway 33 when he lost control of his car. Authorities say that the car hit a road sign, careened into a ditch and slammed into a light pole, knocking it down.
The North Carolina Highway Patrol says that the teen called his family after the wreck. But troopers say the teen fled the area on foot. Troopers apparently responded to the scene of the accident and apparently waited for the teen’s family to arrive. Authorities say that the troopers commanded the family members to go find the teen.
The Highway Patrol says that the teen’s family brought him to the scene of the accident. At that point, the 17-year-old was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving, leaving the scene of an accident and failing to maintain lane control.
It is not clear in the media what level of drunk driving charges the young man faces after the alleged incident. Most people know that the legal limit to drive in North Carolina is set at 0.08 percent blood alcohol concentration. That is what is known as the per se level of impairment, where the law-unfortunately-assumes impairment for all drivers. However, law enforcement and prosecutors can also bring charges based upon the observations of officers in a normal DWI case, if the officers believe that the driver was impaired while driving.
But for underage drivers–those who are under the age of 21–North Carolina law allows authorities to pursue underage DUI charges based upon any evidence of consumption. A teen or 20-year-old driver can face underage drinking and driving charges when well below the general legal limit of 0.08 percent BAC.
Source: WITN, “Teen Flees Scene Of Wreck, Charged With DWI,” Dec. 17, 2012
Police accuse man of North Carolina DWI car slams into house, gas line
Saturday, November 3rd, 2012A freak accident in Wilmington, North Carolina has led to drunk driving charges for the driver accused of crashing into a house. A woman was sitting on her porch across the street and says that the car rumbled between two houses in Wilmington, before crashing into the kitchen of one of the homes. The neighbor says that she could hear “the gas line going off,” just before the home exploded.
Authorities say that the car accident caused a gas leak, followed by the explosion, which ignited both the house and the car. Police say that the car struck the gas line and a 100 pound propane tank. No one was seriously injured in the incident. But the Wilmington man accused of losing control of his vehicle is facing charges for driving while impaired.
Few details are available concerning the DWI allegations. News reports have focused upon the nature of the car accident. Sources say that kids live in the home, but the children were at school when the car accident occurred shortly after noon Monday. One person was inside the home, but was not injured.
Authorities called the gas company to the scene to secure the gas. Neighbors were evacuated until emergency crews could arrive to control the gas feed and get the fire under control.
Smoke billowed from the home, attracting people from miles around.
The man charged with DWI also faces a charge for failure to maintain his lane. He reportedly was taken to the hospital after the wreck before being booked on the criminal charges.
Sources:
- WECT, “DEVELOPING: Man crashes into gas line of home, sparks fire,” Updated Nov. 2, 2012
- WWAY, “Driver charged with DWI after car hits house, sparks fire,” Christina Anthony, Oct. 29, 2012
Crossing the Thin Blue Line
Monday, June 4th, 2012I’ve posted repeatedly in the past about the double standard in DUI law enforcement, and more particularly on the "pass" cops get when they drive drunk. See for example, Guarding the Guardians, The Blue Cover-Up, The Thin Blue Line and The Unwritten Code.
It would appear that this "unwritten code" is not limited to the U.S….
Rookie Cop ‘Harassed and Berated’ After Arresting Off-Duty Officer
Toronto, Canada. May 29 – It’s an impaired driving case like thousands of others except it involves a rookie Toronto police officer who crossed the thin blue line and paid the price.
Const. Andrew Vanderburgh was “harassed and berated” by fellow officers because on Nov. 28, 2009, he arrested and charged an off-duty police constable with impaired driving and having a blood-alcohol level over 80 milligrams, according to an internal police disciplinary ruling.
Some officers also allegedly called Vanderburgh a “rat,” Justice Paul Reinhardt wrote in a pre-trial ruling.
On Tuesday, Vanderburgh was in Old City Hall court to testify at Breton Berthiaume’s long-delayed impaired driving trial. He declined to comment except to say that while he does not regret charging a fellow officer, the fallout has been difficult.
Also in court was Const. Suhail Khawaja, who accompanied Vanderburgh in his squad car the evening of the arrest.
That night, Vanderburgh and Khawaja went to Berthiaume’s home in High Park after a 911 caller reported seeing someone driving erratically on the Don Valley Parkway, and had recorded the licence plate number.
Some officers there “took exception to a police officer being charged or investigated,” Crown Attorney Mary-Anne Mackett told court Tuesday, providing an overview of the convoluted 2½-year-old case.
Reinhardt, who is no longer the judge in the Berthiaume case, said in his pre-trial ruling that disclosure he reviewed alleged Khawaja “refused to assist Constable Vanderburgh in the arrest and preparation of paperwork at 22 Division.”
“Constable Khawaja is purported to have stated on more than one occasion that evening to different informants that he wanted nothing to do with the arrest of a fellow police officer,” Reinhardt wrote.
Vanderburgh, meanwhile, continued to pay a price.
After Berthiaume was released, Vanderburgh drove a marked police vehicle back to his division and was followed by a 22 Division cruiser driven by Const. James Little.
Little pulled him over and gave him a ticket for allegedly disobeying a red light, which was later dismissed. Last year, Little pleaded guilty to one count of discreditable conduct under the Police Services Act.
Little chose “to disregard his professional obligations and embark on a course of retaliatory action against a colleague performing his sworn, lawful duty,” Supt. Robin Breen wrote in his ruling.
“He abused his position to express his personal displeasure about his colleague’s arrest of an off-duty police officer.” Little was docked 20 days’ pay.
Two other officers, including a staff sergeant who failed to intervene, were disciplined in the incident. One was also docked 20 days’ pay, the other 15.
Apparently, the only difference we have with our northern neighbors is that the Canadian cops are punished for their conduct.
Alcoholism’s Thin Line
Thursday, March 13th, 2008According to current diagnostic guides, alcohol use disorders are split into two categories: alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence, or alcoholism. But recently, an argument has been made for adding a third category classified as hazardous drinking. Hazardous drinking has been defined as drinking more than the recommended amount.
So, what is the difference between alcohol abuse and hazardous drinking and do we really need a third classification on the road to alcoholism?
Finnish studies have shown 5.8% of the population to engage in hazardous drinking. According to the study, men are defined as hazardous drinker if they consume 24 or more alcoholic drinks in a week’s time and for women, the number is 16 or more drinks in a week. These numbers seem to be high for one person’s consumption in a week and may imply a drinking problem that needs attention, but yet they are classified as hazardous drinking numbers, not alcohol abuse numbers.
If there is a line between alcohol abuse and hazardous drinking, it seems to me that it’s mighty thin and perhaps we’re just better off calling a spade a spade. If a man is regularly drinking what averages to just over 3 alcoholic beverages every day, that’s indicative of a problem, as is a woman consuming just over 2 alcoholic beverages every day.
Micro-analyzing alcoholism is pointless when alcohol abuse, hazardous drinking, and alcohol dependence are all problems that require attention and change. The degree of intensity of attention depends on the severity of the problem, no matter what researchers want to call it or how they chose to classify it.