The end to the 2023 calendar year didn’t bring a slow down of impaired driving arrests.
The Thunder Bay Police Service laid impaired driving related charges against seven drivers during the New Year’s weekend. Of those seven, six were charged with impaired operation and operation with a blood alcohol concentration above 80 milligrams, while one was charged with impaired operation and failure to comply with a demand.
Police responded to two notable New Year’s Eve incidents:
Collision results in impaired charges
Thunder Bay Police Service officers were dispatched to the 700 block of Memorial Avenue shortly before 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, December 31, 2023, after receiving reports of a two-vehicle collision at the intersection of Memorial Avenue and Central Avenue.
The responding officers observed signs the driver of one of the vehicles was impaired by alcohol. The 77-year-old man was arrested and brought to the Balmoral Street station for further testing. He was found to have a blood alcohol concentration about 2.5 times the legal limit.
The driver is charged with impaired operation and operation with a blood alcohol concentration above 80 milligrams.
Prohibited driver arrested again for impaired
Then, about half an hour before midnight on Sunday, December 31, 2023, a Thunder Bay Police Service officer stopped a vehicle after observing a red light violation on Cumberland Street South at Pearl Street.
The officer observed signs that the driver was impaired by alcohol. The driver was arrested and transported to the Balmoral Street station for further testing, where he refused to provide a breath sample.
The 32-year-old man is charged with impaired operation, prohibited operation of a vehicle, and failure to comply with a demand. He had been under a driving prohibition for a previous impaired conviction and was also a suspended driver.