CARE OR CONTROL - CREDIBILITY PLAYS A LARGE ROLE IN DETERMINING "A REALISTIC RISK OF DANGER TO PERSONS OR PROPERTY"

Officers who investigate a "care or control" situation should ensure to make good notes and be prepared to testify - many such charges result in trials as the issues are always very fact specific. This was shown in yet another appeal of a "care or control" acquittal:

Mr. Poncelet was charged with having care or control of a motor vehicle while his ability to drive was impaired by alcohol. He explained to the Provincial Court trial judge that he had known he was intoxicated and had intended, not to drive, but to sleep in his truck until the next day.  He said he had started the truck only because he was cold.  The trial judge acquitted Mr. Poncelet on the basis of an assessment of the risk posed both by the possibility that he would have driven intentionally and by the possibility that he would have put the truck in motion inadvertently. The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal upheld that acquittal:

Importantly, in considering all of this, the trial judge found Mr. Poncelet to be a credible witness and accepted his testimony.  R. v. Poncelet, 2014 SKCA  30