CORNER BROOK — The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary is giving kudos to some citizens for the way they handled a person they felt was too drunk to be driving Wednesday night.
After an attempt to prevent the man from getting behind the wheel of his car started to get out of control, the police were called.
The result was a 21-year-old man from St. Fintan's being arrested and charged with impaired driving and with failing the breathalyzer.
Fortunately, the man was not driving and was not in the car when apprehended in the Wellington Street area. However, the witnesses who reported him informed police that he had allegedly been driving while under the influence before police were called.
Const. Scott Mosher, the RNC's acting media relations officer, said the police always encourage the public to get involved when it comes to keeping drunk drivers off the streets.
"Even if it is just suspected impaired driving, the worst thing that can happen is the police go and check it out and nothing comes of it," said Mosher. "It's better to be vigilant."
Mosher confirmed the information provided by the witnesses in Wednesday night's incident was enough to warrant the charges, even though the police had not directly observed the man driving.
"Even though he wasn't technically behind the wheel at the time, you can still put him in care and control of the vehicle based on witness evidence," said Mosher.
Often, the general public will only get involved when information can be provided anonymously. Mosher said it is always good to see people out there willing to go the extra step to be more involved with putting a stop to a potentially dangerous driver.
"It was certainly an excellent decision by them to first try to prevent the driver from getting in his vehicle, which they did, and then to contact the police when things kind of went beyond their level of comfort," said Mosher.
The man was later released from police custody and will have an appearance in provincial court scheduled at a later date.
So David has resorted to name calling in this debate (Drunken Hillbillies???). Must have run out of smart a#$ retorts!!! A true sign that you have no idea what you are talking about. Instead of offering valid arguments you insult an entire province! Get angry and sulk all you want; take your ball and go home if you cant match the level of intellect here. If you cant engage in a civillized debate without getting angry and insulting, I really wonder why the Western Star would allow such comments to be posted. You are wrong David and we all think so...get over yourself! relax and have a beer by'!!! Just dont drive! lol