A 57-year-old Burnaby woman charged with impaired driving after crashing into a parked car and ending up a Brentwood-area lawn has pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of driving without due care and attention.
Shannon Marie Keller was charged with impaired operation of a motor vehicle in May 2021.
Back on July 16, 2020, police were called to the 5300 block of Parker Street for reports of a collision, according to agreed facts read out in Vancouver provincial court Friday.
Officers found a 2007 Honda Pilot on the front lawn of a house and a white 2008 Mazda 5 on the sidewalk just east of it, according to the facts.
Witnesses said the Honda had run into the Mazda, which had been parked.
“Ms. Keller had left eastbound, and the witnesses advised that she was the lone occupant that was standing next to the Honda while no one else was around,” Crown prosecutor Catherine Bright told the court. “She informed the witnesses that she fell asleep and was going into a friend’s house. Police located Ms. Keller not too long after and she showed gross symptomology of impairment.”
A breath test revealed “quite high readings,” according to Bright, and Keller was taken to cells to sober up before being released.
She was charged with the Criminal Code offence of impaired operation of a motor vehicle nearly a year later.
She pleaded guilty Friday to the Motor Vehicle Act offence of driving without due care and attention.
In a joint sentencing submission, Bright and defence lawyer Jonathan Waddington called for a $750 fine and a nine-month driving prohibition.
Bright noted Keller didn’t have a criminal record and not “much of a history as far as driving while impaired.”
“The Crown says that that is sufficient in this circumstance to deal with this matter,” Bright said.
B.C. provincial court Judge Gregory Rideout accepted the joint submission, ordered Keller to pay the fine and banned her from driving for nine months.
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