A Grand Forks woman was given a stiff fine and a driving suspension after pleading guilty to drunk driving.
Leeda Koochin, 60, had nearly three times the legal blood-alcohol limit when she drove onto a concrete barrier late last October, Grand Forks provincial court heard Tuesday, Feb. 8.
Koochin was charged in late January with one count of impaired driving and one count of driving with a blood alcohol content of over 0.08. She pleaded guilty to the second charge at her first appearance on Tuesday.
Reading an agreed statement of facts, Crown prosecutor Rebecca Smyth said responding Mounties found Koochin behind the wheel after her car got stuck atop a rampart near the intersection of 68th Avenue and 24th Street.
Other emergency first responders had to help police get Koochin out of her car. She was then taken to hospital, where her blood-work confirmed she had nearly 240 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, Smyth continued.
Calling for leniency, Symth credited Koochin for pleading guilty at her earliest opportunity.
Judge Brown then issued Koochin a $2,000 fine, plus a one-year driving suspension, according to the minimum sentencing guidelines in the Canadian Criminal Code.
Smyth then stayed Koochin’s impaired driving charge.
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