Driver who refused to provide breath sample off road for 12 months

A driver, who refused to provide police with a breath sample following a collision last year, is off the road for the next 12 months.

Collin Kimewon was given three opportunities to comply with the demand following the May 8, 2022, crash, a judge heard Monday.

The 25-year-old pleaded guilty to the Criminal Code offence, as well as a count of resisting police, stemming from the Goulais Avenue and Second Line West incident.

In addition to the one-year prohibition banning him from getting behind the wheel, he must pay a mandatory $2,000 fine for his refusal to comply with the breathalyzer requests.

As well, he received a suspended sentence for his actions when officers attempted to arrest him that night and was placed on probation for 12 months. 

The sentence, imposed by Ontario Court Justice Heather Mendes, was jointly recommended by the Crown and defence.

City police were called to the intersection just before 8 p.m., assistant Crown attorney Stuart Woods told the court. 

Officers found a silver Dodge Ram with front-end damage and the accused's vehicle which had made contact with a building with its rear end.

Kimewon was sitting on the curb, beside his vehicle, and was on his phone, the prosecutor said.

He was read a demand for a roadside breathalyzer test, and started talking about the damage to his mother's vehicle, the prosecutor said.

Kimewon's speech was slurred, he was unsteady on his feet and was arrested at 8:03 p.m. for impaired driving, Woods told the judge.

The accused then began to resist officers, pulling away and swinging his body side to side.

He was ultimately taken to the ground and handcuffed from behind, the Crown said.

At 8:39 p.m. at the police station, another officer read him a breath demand.

Kimewon "shook his head several times no" and was told he would be charged if he refused.

Minutes later, a third officer made the same request and got the "same response," Woods said.

Defence lawyer Wayne Chorney told the court his client had suffered "a lot of losses" in 2020 -- the death of his father, grandfather, grandmother, and uncle.

He said he wasn't suggesting that Kimewon didn't consume alcohol before that, but the young man has reduced his intake, and takes medication to ease his cravings.

Chorney disagreed with the Crown request for a two-year weapons prohibition.

His client has no criminal record, and the violence involved in his resistance to arrest was at "the lower end of the scale," the defence argued.

He didn't strike or threaten the officer, and "was inebriated at the time."

As well, Chorney maintained a prohibition shouldn't be part of a probation order because there is a sustenance issue.

Kimewon, who is from Wikwemikong First Nation, hunts moose and deer in the fall with his uncle, filling his mother's freezer with meat for the winter, Chorney said.

It "reduces the cost of groceries, especially these days."

When she imposed the sentence, Mendes cited the guilty pleas as a mitigating factor, noting the accused is a youthful offender with no prior record.

During his probation, Kimewon must take any recommended counselling for alcohol abuse, and is not to occupy the driver's seat of a vehicle with alcohol in his system.

The judge also imposed a one-year weapons prohibition with an exception for hunting for sustenance.

"I will do whatever it takes to better myself," Kimewon told Mendes.

Other charges stemming from the incident were withdrawn.