Drunk driver receives 21st conviction for impairment: Abbotsford police
Posted December 29, 2023 11:27 am.
Last Updated December 29, 2023 3:41 pm.
Abbotsford police say a man with a lengthy history of impaired driving pleaded guilty to another charge this month in connection with a crash in 2022.
According to investigators, this marks Roy Heide’s 21st impaired driving conviction, “which is believed to be the single most conviction for impaired driving offences someone has received in Canadian history.”
Investigators say officers were called to the area of Clearbrook Road near Marshall Road the evening of Aug. 15 last year for reports of a motorcycle crash. Police say the owner of the motorcycle was known to them “for a history of prohibited and impaired driving offences.”
A passenger on the motorcycle at the time of the crash was being treated by paramedics when officers say the driver “attempted to flee the scene before police arrived.”
The man was identified and eventually arrested for driving while prohibited. Police say the 66-year-old was “detained for an impaired driving investigation,” adding the driver’s blood alcohol level was “determined to be over two times the legal limit.”
Police say Heide pleaded guilty on Dec. 18, 2023, to impaired driving, driving while disqualified, and driving while prohibited.
They note he has been sentenced to four years and 356 days in jail.
“Impaired driving can have devastating consequences to innocent road users as a result of an impaired driver’s decision to drive impaired. Our frontline officers continue to be out enforcing impaired driving laws and taking a zero-tolerance approach to driving while impaired. We continue encouraging our community to report possible impaired drivers to the police,” said Sgt. Paul Walker with the Traffic Enforcement Unit.
