Skip to comments.
Drunk Zamboni Man Couldn't Hit Blue Line
National Post ^
| August 13, 2005
| Graeme Hamilton
Posted on 08/13/2005 10:40:48 AM PDT by Loyalist
MONTREAL - A judge has fined a Victoriaville, Que., man $1,350 and suspended his driver's licence for a year after the man pleaded guilty this week to driving a Zamboni with four times the legal limit of alcohol in his system.
Police were called to Pavillon Jean-Beliveau last Oct. 9 after spectators at a hockey match became alarmed by the erratic conduct of Lionel Laquerre, a municipal employee, at the wheel of the ice-resurfacing machine.
"They had noticed that the driver smelled of alcohol and that he was making manoeuvres described as dangerous on the rink," Jean-Francois Royer, a Victoriaville prosecutor familiar with the file, said yesterday. "He was running into the boards, he was turning in circles. He was not cleaning the ice like you would normally expect it to be done."
Police officers surmised Mr. Laquerre was in an advanced state of inebriation, but before placing him under arrest they checked with a lawyer to make sure impaired Zamboni driving is a crime.
"It's not every day the police are confronted with drunk Zamboni drivers," Mr. Royer said.
They were advised that a Zamboni is considered a motor vehicle under the Criminal Code, and they took Mr. Laquerre to the police station. A blood-alcohol test found he had 314 milligrams of alcohol for 100 millilitres of blood, nearly four times the legal limit of 80 mg.
"Higher than that and there's a danger of coma," said Mr. Royer, whose colleague Gerald Milot handled the case but was not available for comment yesterday.
Quebec Court Judge Gilles Bergeron heard that Mr. Laquerre, 56, has since lost his job with the city and has not had a drink since being arrested. Under an agreement with the Crown, Mr. Laquerre pleaded guilty to one charge involving the Zamboni. He had also been charged with refusing to take a Breathalyzer after he was found behind the wheel of his car the same night, but those charges were dropped.
Mr. Royer said it was the first case of impaired Zamboni driving he had come across in nearly 20 years of practice. "It's typically Canuck," he said.
© National Post 2005
TOPICS: Canada; Crime/Corruption
KEYWORDS: drunkdriving; dui; hockey; zamboni
Friends don't let friends Zamboni drunk.
1
posted on
08/13/2005 10:40:49 AM PDT
by
Loyalist
To: Loyalist; Hat-Trick; Betis70; airborne; CurlyBill
Drunken Zamboni driving ping! LMAO
2
posted on
08/13/2005 10:44:55 AM PDT
by
retrokitten
(www.retrosrants.blogspot.com)
To: Loyalist
"He was running into the boards, he was turning in circles. He was not cleaning the ice like you would normally expect it to be done."
Give it five years and Zamboni figure skating will be an Olympic sport :-)
3
posted on
08/13/2005 10:48:18 AM PDT
by
cloud8
To: Loyalist
Liquored Lionel Laquerre Leaps Legal Limit, Loses License
4
posted on
08/13/2005 10:50:49 AM PDT
by
mikrofon
(Lionel Liqueur)
To: Loyalist
Hopefully this incident didn't occur when the world-famous Montreal
Canadiens took to the ice.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
5
posted on
08/13/2005 10:51:43 AM PDT
by
goldstategop
(In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
To: retrokitten; Loyalist; Hat-Trick; Betis70; airborne; CurlyBill
impaired Zamboni driving?I'd say it was inspired Zamboni driving
Furthermore, no one should drive a Zamboni without having at least two glasses of Chianti first.
To: FrPR
J'en remerci au bon dieu que Jean-Guy n'a pas survivé pour y voir!
To: mikrofon
Liquored Lionel Laquerre Leaps Legal Limit, Loses License Like the copper clappers from Cleveland caper kept in a closet?
8
posted on
08/13/2005 11:44:09 AM PDT
by
Cobra64
To: Loyalist
He blew
.314. Wow. He should be in the
BadJocks DUI Hall of Fame.
Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) Rankings
Welcome to the BadJocks BAC Rankings How does a young college star, pulled over for his first DUI compare to some of the all time greats? How "good" is a BAC of .25% anyway? Well, now you have a way to compare your favorite drunken athlete with others who have gone before him.Below is a list of alleged public drunks or drunk drivers from the sports world. If you are aware of any that aren't listed here please and be sure to put "BAC Rankings" in the subject line. Before you dash off that e-mail message though, we have established several guidelines to be part of this ranking;
- The person must be a national athlete or affiliated in some way with sports.
- Reported BAC levels must be able to be verified in a legitimate news source. Current website links are preferred.
- No minors, please. (That's under 18, even though the legal drinking age is 21.)
- Contestants must not have killed or seriously injured themselves, or others, in the process.
|
Current Rank |
Name |
Sport or Affiliation |
Date of Incident |
Reported BAC* |
Special Note |
|
1 - NEW!!!! |
Carly Cross |
Field Hockey Player for Frostburg State U. |
December 3, 2004 |
0.365% |
Although Cross was ticketed for underage drinking, she and several other victims claim to have been forced to drink liquor and beer as part of a "Christmas buddy" party by other upper-class members of the field hockey team during a bizarre hazing ritual. |
2 |
Andrew Pointon |
Professional Golfer |
May 7, 2002 |
0.36% |
He's reported as having four and a half times the UK legal limit when arrested for DUI. |
3 |
Lary Sorensen |
Former Detroit Tigers broadcaster |
October 16, 1999 |
0.35% |
While out on bail for this DUI arrest, he was pulled over again and blew a 0.24%. (See below) |
T4 |
Lary Sorensen |
Former Detroit Tigers broadcaster |
October 30, 2004 |
0.31% |
His 6th DUI arrest and a probation violation, Lary could go to prison for this one. |
T4 |
Bob Probert |
NHL star |
July 15, 1994 |
0.31% |
In addition to DUI, cops also suspect he had cocaine in his system when he wrecked his motorcycle! |
T4 |
JaRon Rush |
Former UCLA basketball player |
May 21, 2002 |
0.31% |
With a BAC over.30, he had to taken to the hospital. |
5 |
Lynn Miernicki |
Curling fan |
Dec. 21, 2000 |
0.30% |
His family is suing because he fell down a flight of stairs at a curling club and claims the place should have stopped serving he before he had 20 to 25 bottles of beers! |
6 |
Brandon L. Hefflin |
U of Toledo football player |
January 19, 2003 |
0.28% |
Arrested at a bar, he was taken to a hospital where he threw a portable urinal at an officer and tried to flee police. |
7 |
Debbie Rahal |
Wife of Indy champ Bobby Rahal |
July 10, 1999 |
0.27% |
According to the Columbus Dispatch, she had her kids in the car with her at the time of her DUI arrest. (Submitted by David K. Singh) |
8 |
Jim McMahon |
Former Bears Quarterback |
November 9, 2003 |
0.261% |
During the DUI sobriety test, reportedly told officers, 'I'm too drunk. You got me.'" |
T9 |
Unnamed Racine, Wisconsin Drunk |
Miniature Golfer |
October 3, 2004 |
0.26% |
A 19-year-old Racine man and his friend were arrested Oct. 3 on allegations of underage drinking and disorderly conduct after they stole a bucket of golf balls from Mulligan's Mini Golf, threw the balls at each other and then used their golf clubs as swords and "fenced." A breath test showed a blood-alcohol level of 0.26 for the Racine man and 0.17 for his friend. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) |
T9 |
John Abraham |
New York Jets defensive lineman |
October 1, 2003 |
0.26% |
He plead guilty to the lesser charge of driving while impaired and avoided the jail time he could have faced if convicted of DUI. |
T9 |
Ingrida Sabonis |
Wife of former Blazers center Arvydas Sabonis |
December 2000 |
0.26% |
Her second DUI offense in less than a year, her BAC in the first arrest was only 0.23%, but she was on the way to pick up the kids from school. |
10 |
Reginald "Reggie" M. Wilson |
Assistant football coach for the Easton Area High School, in PA |
September 2004 |
0.25% |
Coach Wilson was on the sidelines the same night he was arrested about an hour and 25 minutes after the game was over. |
11 |
Michael Schilling |
HS girls basketball coach |
August 2003 |
0.247% |
In addition to DUI, he was also charged with one count each of marked lanes and seat belt violations. |
11 |
Bernard Gilkey |
Former Atlanta Braves outfielder |
October 2000 |
0.247% |
Got jail time for being a persistent drunk driver. |
T12 |
Mitch Ohnstad |
Minnesota's Mr. Basketball - 1996 |
February 2005 |
0.24% |
A two-season letter winner for the Minnesota Gophers in 1998-2000, Mitch was arrested for drunken driving in Lakeville on Feb. 27. It was his third DWI-type offense since March 1999. |
T12 |
Lary Sorensen |
Former Detroit Tigers broadcaster |
November, 1999 |
0.24% |
Lary was out on bail for an earlier DUI arrest where he blew an even more impressive 0.35% BAC when he was arrested for this DUI. |
T12 |
Clark Haggans |
Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker |
June 21, 2003 |
0.24% |
Haggans was arrested for DUI in the north-Denver suburb of Federal Heights after police said there was a confrontation passengers in two vehicles. |
T12 |
Jon Garrido |
High school football fan |
September 2003 |
0.24% |
18-year-old fan ran onto field and hit coach and several players with a stick |
T12 |
Charles Woodson |
Oakland Raiders DB |
May, 2000 |
0.24% |
Arrested during own charity golf tournament |
13 |
Jeff Garcia |
SF 49ers QB |
January 2004 |
0.237% |
DUI arrest occured when he was leaving the campus of San Jose State University and forced to give field sobriety test in a Jack-in-the-Box parking lot. |
14 |
James Beattie |
British Soccer Player |
September, 2002 |
0.233% |
Had a designated driver but decided to move car anyway. |
T15 |
Dennis Erickson |
Former Seattle Seahawks Coach |
April, 1985 |
0.23% |
Thanks to the Jim Rome Show and The Smoking Gun for their assistance. |
T15 |
Joe Bernard |
Fairfield University Football Coach |
November 22, 2001 |
0.23% |
Crashed his car into five parked cars Thanksgiving Day before being arrested for DUI. |
T15 |
Ed Podolak |
Former Iowa football star current(?) radio broadcaster |
September, 1997 |
0.23% |
(Tip from Phillip Luebke) |
|
9
posted on
08/13/2005 12:52:55 PM PDT
by
TheMole
To: retrokitten
Unreal!! I would hate to see what the ice (and boards for that matter) looked like when he was done cutting it...
10
posted on
08/13/2005 1:38:03 PM PDT
by
CurlyBill
(Liberals --- Aggressively spreading the "Culture of Weakness")
To: Loyalist
I would have thought that the Rink would have fallen under the heading of closed course. Thus possibly out of jurisdiction. Unless he was being driven home, nail him for conspiracy to commit though.
11
posted on
08/13/2005 1:38:27 PM PDT
by
Fraxinus
To: Loyalist
12
posted on
08/13/2005 1:41:59 PM PDT
by
Cowman
(Just when you hit the bottom of the stupid hole you notice the guy next to you is digging)
To: TheMole
Note, one of the only women, and the only woman not part of a purported hazing ritual, is Lithuanian. You go, girl.
13
posted on
08/13/2005 1:44:55 PM PDT
by
1rudeboy
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson