During Ucluelet provincial court hearings on Feb. 4 the Honourable Judge T. Dohm upheld a ticket issued to Sebastian Duque Charry for driving a vehicle with two men riding on its bumper.
Const. Jonathan McKinney, who has since transferred to the RCMP detachment in Westshore, issued the ticket on June 22, 2013, and spoke during the hearing.
McKinney said he was on general patrol in a marked police car when he passed a pick-up truck headed the opposite direction along Harbour Crescent in Ucluelet.
Through his side-view mirror, McKinney saw two men clinging to the back of the truck and watched them jump off at the corner of Harbour Crescent and Sea Plane Base Road.
He said he pulled the truck over along Sea Plane Base Road and identified the driver as Charry.
Charry spoke at the hearing and asked McKinney why the ticket stated the offence occurred on Sea Plane Base Road rather than Harbour Crescent.
McKinney responded that he simply did not have enough room on the ticket to write both street names down.
Charry suggested that this made the offence seem "bigger" because Sea Plane Base Road is larger and busier than Harbour Crescent. Charry said the two men had jumped off his truck by the time he reached Sea Plane Base Road.
Judge Dohm assured the name of the street was inconsequential.
"It isn't any bigger. The offence is the same whether it happened on Sea Plane Base Road, Harbour Crescent or the 401 freeway running out of Toronto," Dohm said. "Here's the problem with your defence: it's the kind of nitpicking...that we tend to do when we are unaware of what the elements of the offence are."
The fine for operating a vehicle while a person is riding on it is $167 and Dohm ordered Charry to pay the full amount by Sept. 30, 2014.
"I'm not inclined to reduce (the fine) largely because while transporting people like that is not often thought of by those involved as being serious, that's only because it's not thought of," Dohm said. "There's just far too many situations (where) people have fallen off vehicles and been very seriously hurt...The law has good reason behind it."
Tickets upheld for noshows Cody Absolon Winchester did not appear at his hearing and
his $230 ticket for consuming alcohol in a public place on July 27, 2013, was upheld.
Not appearing at the hearing has the same effect as pleading guilty, Judge Dohm said.
Taylor L. Shearer did not appear at his hearing and his $230 ticket for consuming alcohol in a public place on July 27, 2013, was upheld.
Judge Dohm said the absence was not surprising given Shearer's Ontario address.
Robert M. Williams did not appear at his hearing and his $230 ticket for consuming alcohol in a public place on Aug. 7 was upheld. reporter@westerlynews.ca