Warming Up for the Taxi

After a night of drinking the Accused was, by his own admission, in no condition to drive. He asked for a taxi to be called and it was. He had to wait for it outside, and it was a cold and windy February morning. He got into his truck, started the engine to run the heater, and fell asleep in the driver's seat. When the taxi arrived, the driver saw him and called the police instead. He was arrested and charged with having care or control of a motor vehicle while his ability to drive was impaired and while his blood alcohol was over the limit. The Criminal Code presumes that a person found in the driver's seat has care or control unless he proves he did not get in to set the vehicle in motion, and the trial judge accepted that he had not. The Crown's position was that a drunk man asleep behind the wheel of a running truck is the very thing the offence exists to prevent, whatever he intended.