Posted on 05/02/2013 8:47:02 PM PDT by rickmichaels
TIMMINS -- A city employee who was drunk and sipping vodka from a thermos while operating a backhoe has lost his job, his driver’s licence, and is going to jail for 30 days.
Richard Page, 56, who had worked for the City of Timmins for more than 24 years, was told in provincial court Tuesday he was lucky he didn’t kill anybody.
“This piece of machinery weighs 10 times more than a small car and the accused was speeding,” Assistant Crown Attorney Wayne O’Hanley told the court.
“This is beyond the pale,” said Judge Ralph Carr. “This is outrageous behaviour ... You are very fortunate that the results were not catastrophic.”
Carr noted that Page - who was being paid by taxpayers “to make the community a safer place” by removing snow from the city’s streets - was operating a backhoe on those very streets with nearly three times the legal limit of alcohol in his blood system
Page pleaded guilty in Timmins provincial court to impaired driving and is prohibited from operating a motor vehicle in Canada for the next 18 months.
If this happened here in America he would get a lawyer and sue for his job back damages because alcoholism is a disability!
I believe Timmons is home to Shania Twain.
He probably smoked a joint as well, just to keep himself sober.
You see another disability argument then! I’m sure it would have been medical marijuana.
“A city employee who was drunk and sipping vodka from a thermos while operating a backhoe has lost his job, his driver’s licence, and is going to jail for 30 days.”
I’m suddenly reminded of a Steve Martin bit where he gets behind the wheel of a steamroller while drunk.
OH-I thought a back hoe was something completely different.
Speeding it’s hard to go faster than 25mph on a Back hoe because it starts bouncing so bad it will be off the highway!
Riding a drunk Ditch-witch is something entirely different.
I had a friend busted for a DUI while operating a Front End Loader on a busy two lane state highway. The State Patrol Officer had no sense of humor. I had to get the equipment and bail him out.
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