Red Deer RCMP were busy last weekend arresting and charging five people with impaired driving, as well as suspending other drivers who had been drinking.
RCMP arrested a 24-year-old Lacombe woman for impaired driving after the vehicle she was driving struck a pedestrian outside the Westerner grounds at approximately 12:30 a.m. last Saturday.
Police said the man was crossing 49th Avenue at the southwest gates of the Westerner grounds when a car struck him, then continued southbound for a short distance before stopping.
Members of the Westerner’s medical team offered CPR until EMS and police arrived. The victim, a 52-year-old Red Deer man, was taken to hospital where he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries and later released.
The woman will face a number of charges including impaired driving.
RCMP arrested another impaired driver shortly before 3 a.m. also last Saturday after conducting a traffic stop on a pickup truck as it drove erratically on 32nd Street. An 18-year-old Red Deer woman faces impaired driving charges.
The other three impaired drivers were arrested during CheckStops. One CheckStop was between 9:30 and 11 p.m. at 50th Avenue and 45nd Street on Saturday, and the second was at 32nd Street and Springfield Avenue, between 1:30 and 3:30 a.m. on Sunday.
There were also three 72-hour suspensions for people blowing between 50-100 mg. The vehicles of those charged with impaired driving and those who blew between 50-100 mg were seized for three days.
During the CheckStops, one 30-day suspension was given to a new driver for having any amount of alcohol in their system and the vehicle was seized for seven days.
Two Gaming and Liquor Act charges were laid as 18 moving/non-moving violation tickets were handed out.
“The reckless choice to drive impaired endangers lives, and our message to these people is that your choices will catch up with you,” says Sergeant Al Nickolson of the Red Deer RCMP.
“We are out there every day and every night, looking for impaired drivers through CheckStops and patrols, and following up on reports called in by concerned citizens.”