Former Const. Colin Smith jailed for 30 days, given two-year driving ban
Repeat offender Const. Colin Smith, a Georgina detachment officer, was charged with impaired and refusing to give a breath sample on Jan. 11, 2016.
In a Barrie court, Smith, of Tiny Township, pled to impaired driving and received 30 days in jail, but was allowed to serve his time on weekends.
Following the sentence, he was forced to resign from the York police service, as one must do if jailed under any circumstance, according to the police.
This was not the first time Smith had been in trouble with the law for his driving habits, according to a 2011 York Regional Police’s Professional Standards Bureau probe. Five years ago Smith was stripped of his rank for 12 months and fined $1,500 after pleading guilty to drunk driving.
That incident took place on Feb. 1, 2011 at about 4:35 a.m. while driving south on Leslie Street, just south of Ravenshoe Road.
After witnessing a plume of dust on the road ahead, a truck driver, going in the opposite direction, was forced to swerve in order to avoid Smith’s car which was headed for a head-on collision.
After following the vehicle, the motorist observed Smith’s car swerving from “shoulder to shoulder.” Smith was eventually seen exiting and staggering to the bathroom at the Esso gas station at Ravenshoe and Woodbine Avenue. Smith eventually blew 232 mg of alcohol per 100 mL of blood.
In 2009 a woman was driving east on Barrie’s Dunlop Street and witnessed a vehicle backing up on the shoulder before hitting and passing her and speeding off. Smith was given a summons to attend court for a failure to remain in the matter.
Smith, who earned $105,707 in 2014, apologized to the tribunal.
“He … assures this tribunal he will never be in this setting again,” the document read. “He has learned his lesson and has great remorse. He had re-lived what happened and stated how ‘stupid’ this was.”
He was also handed a two-year driving ban and one-year probation during his April 2016 sentencing.
Source: YorkRegion.com