Blood tests, which Crown witnesses said were taken from Const. Kevin Duignan, showed an alcohol value of more than three times the legal limit, court heard yesterday.
The Ontario Court of Justice in Cobourg heard testimony from hospital staff as part of a voir dire (a trial within a trial) that will determine whether evidence collected at the Peterborough Regional Health Centre can be used against Duignan, a Peterborough County OPP officer.
Mr. Justice Rommel Masse, sitting as judge alone, will have to decide whether the evidence is admissible.
Defence lawyer Leo Kinahan was expected to argue the evidence should not be admissible because Duignan enjoys protection under the province's Personal Health Information Protection Act.
But as the voir dire unfolded yesterday, Kinahan told the court he might have to shift strategies to argue the hospital evidence infringes his client's Charter rights.
Duignan, 50, was charged April 2, 2007 with impaired driving and having care and control of a vehicle with more than the legal amount of alcohol in his blood.
The charge came after Duignan's police cruiser was involved in a single- vehicle collision on Highway 28 south of Burleigh Falls in the early morning hours of March 29, 2007.
Duignan, who was on duty and in uniform at the time, was taken to PRHC where his blood was drawn, court heard.
Hospital lab technologist Pat Surman analyzed Duignan's blood, she testified, finding an alcohol value of 55 millimoles of alcohol per one litre of blood. The legal limit in Canada is about 17.3 millimoles of alcohol per one litre of blood.
Registered nurse Allyson Langworth was working in the emergency room the morning Duignan was brought to the hospital, court heard.
She said the officer was "belligerent" and uncooperative with staff.
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