Do Not Pass GO: David Bacon jailed with breathalyzer readings 4 times over the limit -- 2 days in a row!

Source: Telegraph-Journal

NEW BRUNSWICK - A drunk driver who blew breathalyzer readings of more than four times the legal limit on back-to-back days over the weekend has lost his freedom for 120 days - and his right to drive.

It's the third time David Bacon of Lorneville Road has been convicted of impaired driving.

Bacon, 66, was sentenced to jail terms of 30 days and 90 days after pleading guilty to the two latest charges by provincial court Judge Anne Jeffries on Monday. He was slapped with a three-year driving ban.

"If you want to drink, that's up to you. That's between you and your liver. (But) a van becomes a weapon with these types of readings," Jeffries told Bacon.

"I'm sorry for my actions," Bacon said from the prisoner's box. "I went four years without a drink."

Crown prosecutor Patrick Wilbur said Bacon admitted to being drunk when police pulled his green van over on Somerset Street around 11:20 a.m. on Saturday. Despite blowing breathalyzer readings of 340 and 360 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood (the legal limit is 80 mg), he said the accused "didn't appear to be terribly drunk."

It was the same story on Sunday, the prosecutor added, when police arrested Bacon at 1:40 p.m. behind the wheel of the van in the parking lot of the Ridgewood detox centre, where he had dropped off a friend and then driven over the lawn.

Like the previous day, Wilbur said, Bacon was very co-operative with police and submitted to a breathalyzer demand, blowing a pair of readings of 330 mg. He admitted "he was wrong," the prosecutor said. "In his own words (he said), 'I'll pay the piper.'

"With those readings, he shouldn't be standing; shouldn't be driving, to say the least," Wilbur said.

"Clearly, this gentleman needs help. A stay (at the Saint John Regional Correctional Centre) on Old Black River Road will only dry him out."

Bacon told the judge his son has custody of his van.

"You might as well sign the registration over to him because you won't be using it for awhile," Jeffries said, before imposing sentence.