A Regina woman has been acquitted of impaired driving charges after a judge ruled that police violated her Charter rights.
Andrea Rees was charged after she rear-ended a vehicle that was stopped at a traffic light on Albert Street in January 2013.
The court heard that Rees left the scene and was apprehended by a police officer, who was initially investigating the incident as a hit-and-run crash.
Rees told the officer she had two glasses of wine with dinner several hours earlier. The officer testified he smelled alcohol while Rees was sitting in the back of his cruiser.
The officer informed Rees that he was placing her under arrest after she failed a roadside breath test.
During the trial, a lawyer for Rees argued that police infringed upon his client’s Charter rights against unreasonable search or seizure and arbitrary detention.
The defence also argued that Rees’ right to retain a lawyer without delay and to be informed of that right was also violated.
In a decision released online this week, provincial court Judge Kevin Lang found that Rees was not properly informed of her right to retain a lawyer.
Lang ruled the breath test evidence inadmissible because it was obtained after the Charter violation.
“The accused was held in a police cruiser, handcuffed behind her back, for 15 minutes before receiving her rights,” Lang said in his decision.
“Had the officer focused on the intoxication investigation instead of concurrently investigating her for leaving the scene, she should have received her rights far sooner.”
Lang said the limited evidence in the case left him with a reasonable doubt, and he found Rees not guilty of impaired driving.
