Temiskaming OPP officer charged with impaired driving

Impaired operation of a motor vehicle means that the driver's ability to operate a motor vehicle was altered due to the consumption of an alcoholic beverage or drug.

Temiskaming OPP officer charged with impaired driving

Postby Thomas » Mon May 18, 2020 3:53 pm

An Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer has been charged with impaired driving after being arrested in the Municipality of West Nipissing over the weekend.

A statement from the OPP says members of the Nipissing West detachment responded to a traffic complaint on Highway 17 at approximately 3 p.m. Sunday.

Officers located the vehicle stopped on Highway 17, just east of Sandy Falls Road.

Police say the investigation revealed the driver had been consuming alcohol and the accused was arrested.

Provincial Const. Jaak Valiots, a 23-year member of the OPP serving at the Temiskaming detachment, had been off-duty at the time, the OPP statement said.

The accused has been charged with operation while impaired with a blood-alcohol concentration equal to or above the legal limit.

The officer is scheduled to appear at the Ontario Court of Justice in North Bay July 21 and has been issued a 90-day administrative driver’s licence suspension. The vehicle also has been impounded for seven days.

The charge marks the 21st driver charged under criminal impaired driving laws in the Nipissing West detachment area this year. Nipissing West OPP charged 62 drivers in 2019.

https://www.nugget.ca/news/local-news/t ... ed-driving
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A 23-year veteran of OPP arrested for impaired

Postby Thomas » Mon May 18, 2020 3:54 pm

A long-serving OPP officer found himself on the other end of a breathalyzer yesterday.

On May 10 at 3 p.m., Nipissing West OPP officers responded to a traffic complaint on Highway 17 in West Nipissing.

Officers found the vehicle stopped on Highway 17, just east of Sandy Falls Road on a portion of the highway known as the Sturgeon Stretch.

Investigation revealed the driver had been consuming alcohol and was arrested.

Provincial Constable Jaak Valiots, 48, a 23-year member serving at Temiskaming OPP Detachment was off duty at the time. He's been charged with "Operation While Impaired - Blood Alcohol Concentration (80 Plus)."

Valiots is scheduled to appear at the Ontario Court of Justice on July 21, in North Bay. He was issued a 90-day Administrative Driver's Licence Suspension, and the vehicle was impounded for seven days.

It's not the first time Valiots has been charged with impaired.

He pleaded guilty to driving impaired by alcohol and failing to provide a breath sample in Huntsville back in 2016 after police found him stuck in a ditch on Highway 141 in Utterson just after 10 p.m. on Saturday, June 11.

He was off-duty at the time but was a constable with Almaguin Highlands OPP.

This latest charge marks the 21st driver charged under Criminal Impaired Driving Laws in the Nipissing West Detachment area in 2020. In 2019, Nipissing West OPP charged 62 drivers.

https://www.baytoday.ca/local-news/a-23 ... ed-2342257

https://www.timminstoday.com/police-bea ... ed-2343582
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Veteran Temiskaming OPP officer faces drunk driving charge

Postby Thomas » Mon May 18, 2020 3:56 pm

SUDBURY -- An off-duty member of the Temiskaming branch of the Ontario Provincial Police was charged with impaired driving Sunday, police said in a news release.

Acting on a traffic complaint called in at 3 p.m., members of the Nipissing West OPP found the vehicle on Highway 17, just east of Sandy Falls Road in West Nipissing.

"Investigation revealed the driver had been consuming alcohol and was arrested," the release said.

A 23-year veteran constable from the Temiskaming OPP is charged with impaired driving and is scheduled to appear at the Ontario Court of Justice on July 21 in North Bay.

His license is automatically suspended for 90 days and the vehicle was impounded for seven days.

So far in 2020, Nipissing West OPP has charged 21 people with impaired driving. In 2019, a total of 62 people were charged.

https://northernontario.ctvnews.ca/vete ... -1.4934481
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Drunk driving charge is OPP officer’s second

Postby Thomas » Mon May 25, 2020 4:55 pm

Const. Jaak Valiots, a Sudbury native, pleaded guilty in 2016

An OPP officer from the northeast has been suspended after being charged with drunk driving for the second time in four years.

Const. Jaak Valiots, with the Temiskaming detachment, was charged May 10 while off-duty near Sturgeon Falls with impaired driving over 80 mg.

The 23-year member of the OPP, who hails from Greater Sudbury, was convicted of the same offence back in 2016, according to a Bracebridge Examiner article.

Then 44 and a member of the Almaguin OPP, Valiots pled guilty to impaired driving, as well as failing to provide a breath sample, on June 28, the newspaper reported.

He had been charged after Huntsville police found him stuck in a ditch earlier that month on Highway 141 in Utterson.

Off-duty at the time, Valiots “was speaking slowly with a slightly slurred speech, had a strong odour of alcohol on his breath and glassy eyes and made slow movements,” Crown attorney Lyndsay Jeanes told a Bracebridge court, the Examiner reported.

When the officer asked Valiots to exit his vehicle, he stumbled.

“He started to walk toward the road and slipped, grabbing the side of his vehicle for support,” Jeanes said.

Valiots was transported to the Huntsville OPP detachment, where he refused to give a breath sample.

“My client has already taken steps to deal with what may be a problem,” defence lawyer Peter Ward said during the court appearance, not elaborating on what those steps might be.

He did say that Valiots would be applying to participate in the ignition interlock program.

“I apologize for wasting the court’s time and apologize — it will never happen again,” Valiots said in 2016.

The officer was fined $2,600 and given a one-year driving prohibition.

He was also disciplined under the Police Services Act, said Sgt. Carlo Berardi, media relations coordinator with the Northeast Region.

“PC Valiots was demoted from first-class constable to second-class constable for 20 months resulting from the 2016 incident,” Berardi said in a message to The Star.

The officer was not suspended in 2016, said Berardi, but “was placed on administrative duties.”

The Northeast spokesman said police personnel “are subject to the same laws as all citizens,” while the Police Services Act sets out additional “standards and expected behaviour” for officers.

“OPP officers will be subject to appropriate discipline ranging from training, counselling, deduction of hours, up to and including demotion and/or dismissal depending on the circumstances,” Berardi said.

“When an OPP officer faces a criminal charge, the Professional Standards Branch opens a parallel internal investigation under the PSA. If a criminal charge is laid against an OPP officer, the criminal justice system has the overall responsibility and jurisdiction of prosecution and sentencing through the criminal courts.”

Valiots is scheduled to appear at the Ontario Court of Justice on July 21 in North Bay regarding the recent impaired charge.

https://www.thesudburystar.com/news/loc ... ers-second
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