York Regional Police share epic roadside breath test fail

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Nine times ain’t the charm.

York Regional Police are reminding the public that anyone who drinks and drives, and fails or refuses to provide a breath sample when demanded by police, is committing an illegal act after a driver recently tried and failed nine times to do a breathalyzer test.

Authorities backed this up with an example of the Jan. 24 incident in which an officer conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle in the Township of King.

After speaking with the male driver, the officer noticed the smell of alcohol on the person’s breath and asked him to step out of the vehicle and provide a sample of his breath into an approved screening device.

The officer even demonstrated how the screening device was used and that it was functioning correctly.

The driver was given a total of nine attempts to provide a suitable sample of his breath and was warned he would be arrested and charged if he failed to do so.

It soon became clear that the driver was intentionally not providing a sample of his breath and he was then arrested and charged with failure to comply with demand, his vehicle was impounded for seven days and his driver’s license was suspended for 90 days.