Nanaimo RCMP pull over impaired educator with students in vehicle

CHEK

Nanaimo RCMP has suspended the license of an educator after she was pulled over and determined to be driving impaired while transporting students in her vehicle.

The incident took place on April 25, shortly after 11 a.m., when a frontline officer with the Nanaimo RCMP observed a vehicle with a suspected suspended driver near Milton Street and Fitzwilliam Street.

The officer conducted a traffic stop with the vehicle and identified a 43-year-old local educator who was escorting four students to an extracurricular event in Nanaimo.

According to a police report, the officer conducted an impaired driving investigation and determined that the woman was beyond the legal limits of alcohol in her blood to drive a motor vehicle.

The driver was issued a 90-day Immediate Roadside Prohibition and her vehicle was impounded.

During the stop, the educator arranged for a new means of transportation for the students and they were able to continue with their day unharmed.

“The officer, in this case, did exactly what the people of Nanaimo expect from their law enforcement officers in that he observed a suspected driving offence, investigated the matter fully and took an impaired driver transporting vulnerable youth off the road,” said Const. Sherri Wade with the Nanaimo RCMP.

“Nanaimo parents can sleep soundly knowing that this officer and many more like him are on the roads 24 hours a day looking for impaired drivers.”

A spokesperson for the Nanaimo-Ladysmith School District confirmed to CHEK News the educator was not employed by the district.

Nanaimo resident Joan Parsons has lost three family members to drunk drivers and has spoken to many students about the dangers of impaired driving.

“I really didn’t think I could be shocked anymore but to find an educator would take other people’s children on the road while they’re impaired is just beyond my comprehension,” said Parsons, who heads an organization called Rid Roads of Impaired Drivers or RIDD.

Parsons says she wonders who would’ve seen the impaired driver before she would’ve left with the children in her car.

“And the school does bear responsibility for who they send children off with. If it was my child in the car I would be asking a lot of questions,” said Parsons.

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