A woman accused of drunk driving has been acquitted because a police breath technician ordered her to stand on a scale and be weighed. This “constitutionally inexcusable delay of approximately 10 minutes” failed to live up the Criminal Code requirement that the test be given “forthwith,” a judge ruled. When he stopped her, the officer noticed a strong smell of alcohol, and she failed a breath screening test on her sixth attempt. That is why the breath technician demanded she get on the scale, to provide data for that retrospective calculation. “Forcing someone to provide evidence against themselves is, in my view, serious,” said the trial judge, Charles D. Anderson.

Source: National Post March 07, 2017 03:17 UTC