What police initially thought was a medical assistance call turned out to be a drunk driver passed out in front of a preschool.
Police found the 48-year-old woman, from Qualicum Beach, passed out with the car’s engine running in the Beban Park parking lot shortly after 11 a.m. Thursday.
Const. Gary O’Brien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesman, said 24 children attending the preschool were coming out of the facility to be picked up by their parents at the time of the incident.
“She was passed out with the vehicle running and the [transmission] in reverse,” O’Brien said. “If she’d gone backwards she would have gone directly into the preschool. The only reason she didn’t was because she passed out with her foot on the brake.”
Police also found a 26 ounce bottle of liquor in the car.
O’Brien said the woman blew two breath samples of .330 and .320 or about four times the legal intoxication limit.
Police are recommending a charge of being in care and control of a motor vehicle while impaired, which carries the same penalty as an impaired driving charge, and are also investigating the woman for impaired driving.
She was released on a promise to appear in Nanaimo provincial court May 15.
The woman was also picked up Feb. 10 at about 4 p.m. by police after she had driven her car into a ditch in Qualicum at the intersection of Bay Street and the Island Highway.
In that incident, O’Brien said, she blew breath samples of .350 and .330.
She will appear in Nanaimo provincial court May 8 to face a recommended impaired driving charge from the incident in Qualicum.
“We’ve also served notice that we’re seeking greater punishment because it’s her second offence in six days,” O’Brien said.
