(15 photos) Yes Dylan Pine, you did make SooToday.com

"SooToday won't find out about this, will they?" asked Dylan Pine, his voice confirming the hint of fear in his eyes.

He was addressing a police officer who'd stopped him as part of a roadside RIDE check.

The 19-year-old student had every reason to look nervous.

He'd just failed a RIDE check and before the night was over, would be charged with blowing over 80 milligrams - a criminal offence in Ontario.

Despite no previous criminal record, the young man received an automatic 90-day suspension of his driver's license.

He now faces a minimum $600 fine and an additional 12-month suspension if found guilty by the courts.

“You won’t tell them, eh? My parents will kill me if SooToday finds out and publishes this,” Pine said.

He paused for a few moments and then looked past the three police officers to where I was standing.

He didn't appear to register the SooToday.com logo on my baseball cap.

Pine was one was one of six drivers I saw trying to avoid, or forgotting to stop for, the overnight RIDE check.

In each case, two constables took off in a cruiser, tracked down the suspected vehicle, and pulled it over.

Police then administered a roadside Alcoholizer test and ran each driver's identification through their system.

Pine was the only one of the six charged with an alcohol-related offence - the other five were ticketed or let off with a warning.

The lesson was clear: Don't try to avoid a RIDE checkpoint.

The evening had begun around 10 p.m. at the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service building.

Traffic Sergeant Jim Egan, a 31-year veteran of the force, had invited me to tag along with his RIDE program crew as they carried out roadside checks around the city.

We set up checkpoints at four locations before the night was over, stopping 510 vehicles and administering 14 roadside tests.

Police handed out two 12-hour suspensions

The 510 drivers represented all ages and walks of life in Sault Ste. Marie.

There were doctors going to the hospital, taxi drivers transporting their fares, steelworkers changing shifts, and a mother looking for her pre-teen daughter who had run away from home.

I saw teenagers out on a date, parents chauffeuring their children home from the movies, middle-aged couples visiting friends and older folks going to the casino.

Mayor John Rowswell (pictured with Constable Connie Donato) was stopped twice.

Police stopped Ward 5 Councillor David Celetti as well.

Both politicians were sober.

Rowswell even smiled for the media.

Things had gone relatively well and police were about to wrap things up and head back to the station, when the night's two most notable incidents happened.

A Checker taxi turned the corner and zig-zagged across a couple of lanes before pulling onto the sidewalk.

One of the constables noticed a small sandwich bag being tossed out the window.

Then seven passengers, plus the driver, piled out of a mid-sized sedan built for six people at the most.

The constable recovered the plastic bag, and the legality of the plant material it contained was questioned.

None of the young people would admit ownership.

But the youth were cooperative and most seemed genuinely shocked by its presence, so the police opted not to press drug-related charges.

"It would have been different if it was cocaine or in greater amounts," said Egan. "But this is a small amount, probably under a gram, between seven people and we didn’t catch which individual threw it from the window."

So police wrote up tickets for seatbelt-related offenses and further questioned the Checker taxi driver on the occupancy permitted by his taxi license.

These young people also learned a valuable lesson: Be cautious about the company you keep.

As that situation was being resolved, Sergeant Amy Houser and Master Bombadier Nick Luhtanen, a couple of reservists in their early twenties from the 49th Field Artillery Regiment, recognized me while driving through the checkpoint and rolled down their windows.

Houser, who seldom touches alcohol and had not drank that evening, was helping Luhtanen insure that a mutual friend got home safely.

The two soldiers passed the spot check without any problem.

They were practising the same motto in their private lives that they constantly drill into young military recruits: "You are responsible for your actions, and the consequences that flow from them."

We started catching up on local military gossip when a dark-coloured car came through the checkpoint, stopped briefly, and took off again.

Dylan Pine was about learn about the consequences of being charged with an alcohol-related driving offense.

One of the cruisers took off in pursuit, while a second unmarked cruiser followed a few moments later. Once the taxi situation was resolved, Sergeant Egan and I headed over to where these constables had stopped Pine.

Having failed a roadside breath test, Pine was given the option between having someone sober come and pick up his car or having it towed and impounded.

The police then brought him back to the station where they took down his personal information, instructed him of his rights, questioned him and asked him to provide two additional breath samples.

The process can take between half an hour to several hours.

If you don't comply with the additional breath samples, you can be charged with failure to comply, which carries the same penalties as blowing over 80 or impaired.

Dylan Pine's journey through the court system had just begun.

He will come back for fingerprinting and then be required to face the court.

He's already had his license suspended for 90 days.

He'll now face a possible one-year suspension, possible fines starting at $600, and perhaps even jail time.

Then there's the steep increase in insurance rates when he's ready to drive again.

And yes, local law enforcement will tell SooToday.com if you're charged with drinking and driving.

And, yes we will report it, with your name in our headlines. Such are the consequences for any person charged locally with an alcohol-related driving offence.

Just ask Dylan Pine.