A 37-year-old woman spent the night sobering up behind bars in Salmon Arm last week, after attempting to buy cigarettes and driving away in a grey sedan around 9 p.m. on Aug. 19.
Salmon Arm said they received word 40 minutes later of a single-vehicle incident involving a car matching that description upside down in a ditch on White Creek Frontage Rd.
Police said the driver refused to get out of the vehicle, denied being the driver, and was surrounded by unopened alcoholic beverages.
When the woman eventually came out of the vehicle she was tended to by BC Ambulance.
During this time, the woman easily lost balance, and was read an approved screening device demand. According to RCMP, she refused to provide a sample of her breath, despite being told it carries the same penalty as blowing a “fail”.
She continued to refuse when told to blow into the screening device. As a result, the woman’s vehicle was impounded for 30 days, and she was prohibited from driving for 90 days.
Police attempted to figure out her place of residence, and if there was a safe place she could be provided a ride to, but the woman continued to be uncooperative and was arrested for being intoxicated in public.
The woman was transported to cells and held until she was sober the next morning.
