The Fort MacMurray Provincial Court has sentenced a man who was busted for impaired driving three times. 39 year old James Louie McDonald entered a guilty plea to multiple impaired driving incidents, which included impaired driving and also blood alcohol over the legal limit, as well as one charge of assaulting a cab driver. McDonald was sentenced to spend 6 months in jail for the incidents. All of the charges involved in the case were linked to a period of depression and alcoholism that McDonald went through when he became separated from his wife and 3 kids. The first incident happened on Dec. 2, 2013, when McDonald hit a parked vehicle at around 2 am.

The Fort MacMurray Provincial Court heard that the second incident of impaired driving occurred on June 26, 2014 at Bailey’s Pub at the Stonebridge Hotel. The third incident happened on October 26, 2014, when police received reports of a swerving vehicle on the road. There was also an incident when McDonald assaulted a cab driver. The 39 year old was identified by the cab driver and surveillance footage. Justice Stephanie Cleary told McDonald “Indeed it is amazing to me … that some innocent person was not injured or killed. It’s amazing good luck for everyone else on the roads.” Justice Cleary also explained that she recognized substance abuse problems but that the sentence was needed for general deterrence. McDonald was sentenced to 15 days for the assault, and to sentences of 15, 30, and 120 days respectively for the impaired driving charges.