WESTLOCK - A Bonnyville-area man who didn’t attend his traffic trial, now has less than a month to pay more than $3,500 in fines.
In Westlock Court of Justice Aug. 2, Kelvin Albert Grier, 56, was convicted of the Traffic
Safety Act offences of driving without insurance and driving while unauthorized by Justice Thomas Achtymichuk following a short, 15-minute ex parte trial conducted by provincial Crown Shelia Ries as Grier was not present. Ultimately, Grier was fined $3,600 by Justice Achtymichuk, who was told by Ries that “this matter has gone to warrant many, many times” and a not-guilty plea to the charges was entered in December 2022. The man now has until Sept. 5 to pay the fines or will spend 59 days in jail.
Court heard from one Westlock RCMP officer that at around 2:30 a.m., Feb. 21, 2020, he pulled over Grier who was heading north out of town on Highway 44 in a red Dodge pickup truck.
The licence plate was partially obstructed by snow, but the officer cleared it and learned that the plates were expired and the driver was suspended.
The driver couldn’t provide a valid licence and eventually produced an insurance card from 2015, while the vehicle’s registration had expired in 2017. The officer ran Grier’s name through the Canadian Police Information Center (CPIC) database and learned he was suspended from driving.
Ultimately, the truck was impounded by police and the officer gave Grier and his passenger a ride back to town to wait for a ride.
Man will serve time instead of paying fine
Meanwhile, a Westlock-area man decided to stay in jail instead of paying $2,400 in fines.
Appearing via CCTV from the Edmonton Remand Centre (ERC) during the same sitting, Brent Donald Tiegs, 54, pleaded guilty to driving while unauthorized involving a May 31, 2022, incident, while a second charge of driving without insurance was withdrawn by Ries.
After Justice Achtymichuk learned Tiegs would be serving the 18 days instead of paying the fine, he was inclined to make the time consecutive to any other sentences he’s serving. Ries, who noted over the past 10 years that Tiegs has a “habitual pattern” of driving while unauthorized and had asked for the maximum $2,000 fine, said she wasn’t looking for a consecutive sentence and Justice Achtymichuk, who also imposed a $400 victim-fine surcharge, made the time concurrent.
