The Queen v. M.(A.) 2018

The police pulled a vehicle over as it left a local bar.  After the vehicle stopped the driver, the driver looked back at the police officer and then sped away from the traffic stop.  The police followed the vehicle at high speed.  On a long turn the vehicle left the road at approximately 150 km per hour and violently crashed.  The client was the only person in the vehicle and had been the person driving.  Thankfully she was not killed in the accident however she was seriously injured.  She was taken to the hospital where the police made a demand to seize a sample of her blood.  After the blood was analyzed, the results suggested the client had over three times the legal limit of alcohol in her blood.  She was charged accordingly.  Prior to the trial, Mr. van der Walle filed his Notice of Constitutional Argument with the prosecutor.  Much to her credit, the prosecutor agreed with Mr. van der Walle that his client’s rights had likely been violated in a serious way at the hospital.  Specifically, she was not given the chance to speak to a lawyer prior to the police seizing her blood.  The Crown accepted a guilty plea to driving without due care and attention under the Motor Vehicle Act and dropped all the criminal charges.  Client was able to keep driving for work and only had to pay a $500 fine.  Not guilty of any crime.  No trial necessary.