The Crown's case was read in without any witness testimony. At 4:20 a.m. RCMP members saw Mr. Andersen's vehicle parked in Oxbow with its headlights on, engine running. Mr. Andersen was sitting in the driver's seat and appeared to be sleeping. They saw that he had vomited earlier on the driver's side door and on the ground below it. When they knocked on the roof of his vehicle to wake him he gestured at them with a middle finger. He eventually blew samples of 110 and 100. Mr. Andersen testified that he had no intention to drive his vehicle. He had drank 16 beers at a community supper, got in his vehicle, sat in the driver's seat, started the engine, turned on the heater (because it was cold) and went to sleep almost immediately. He testified that he was going to sleep off his intoxication before driving home. He was convicted at trial but was successful on appeal where an acquittal was entered. The Crown's appeal of that decision was allowed and the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal confirmed the trial conviction. The Court stated that the risk of danger in this case was real and evident. Mr. Andersen was intoxicated and was in the driver's seat of his running vehicle which was not disabled in any way. It could have been easily put in motion by simply depressing the brake and engaging the gear shift (regardless of how many discrete steps one might characterize this as taking). There was a risk that Mr. Andersen could have inadvertently set his vehicle in motion or, that Mr. Andersen could have, if he awoke, intentionally set his vehicle in motion.
An interesting point was made by the Court when it was noted that Mr. Andersen testified that he felt he was "completely sober" when the police woke him up, yet over an hour later his blood alcohol readings still exceeded the proscribed limit.