APTN National News
Suspended senator Patrick Brazeau has avoided jail for now and is again being sent to a treatment centre following his arrest Monday in Gatineau, Que., where he was found drunk and with a knife in a parked car he didn’t own.
Brazeau was arrested at around 1:40 p.m. when a Gatineau police officer spotted him sitting in a Dodge Journey SUV on a street in Gatineau.
Upon further inspection, the officer immediately detected the smell of alcohol after Brazeau rolled down his window. The suspended Senator failed an initial breathalyzer test and was taken to the police station where he was found to have twice the legal alcohol limit following a second test.
Police charged Brazeau with two counts of being in the care or control of a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol and being over the legal limit.
Gatineau police said Brazeau was also found with a knife, breaching one of his conditions imposed following previous charges. Brazeau was also fined $200 under a Gatineau bylaw for having the knife. The vehicle was impounded for 30 days and his license has been suspended, police said. The Dodge, however, was not registered to Brazeau and police would not say who owned the vehicle.
Brazeau appeared in court Tuesday afternoon looking disheveled in an untucked charcoal button shirt over his blue jeans.
His hands were cuffed in the front. His only words were “No” and his date of birth.
The Crown and defence agreed to release Brazeau on several conditions including he go to the Domaine Orford treatment centre in Sherbrooke, Que.
However, he’ll remain in police custody overnight Tuesday until Wednesday morning when he’ll be taken to Domaine Orford by one of the centre’s officials. He must remain in the centre unless he obtains authorization from the centre’s staff.
It’s unclear who is paying for his second stint in rehab. Brazeau already spent time at the bucolic Melaric centre in Saint-Andre-d’Argenteuil, Que.
Other conditions imposed by the court also include he not be around people doing drugs or drinking alcohol, not to be in possession of any weapons, including a cross-bow, and he has to enter therapy with reports submitted to the court.
This latest brush with the law is sure to add to Brazeau’s already existing legal troubles.
He’s scheduled to stand trial for sexual assault and assault next year from a case dating back to February 2013.
The Crown expects seven witnesses to testify, including the alleged victim in the case. The trial is expected to run from March 23 and March 25, 2015.
The case is separate from an April 2014 incident where Brazeau was charged with assault, possession of cocaine, uttering threats and breaching bail conditions following an altercation involving a man and a woman at a home in Gatineau.
Brazeau also faces charges of fraud and breach of trust in connection with his Senate expense claims.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed Brazeau to the Senate in 2008.
– with a file from The Canadian Press
