Joseph Ford's string of impaired driving offences began May 31, 1998 in Edmonton when he carelessly sped around the parking lot of the Neigbourhood Inn in a Ford pick-up and struck an unoccupied vehicle.

Once he noticed two individuals had witnessed the crash he swerved around and sped off towards them. The witnesses claimed they feared they would have to jump out of the way or be hit, but Ford turned the vehicle away from them at the last minute.

Edmonton police arrived at the scene and arrested him for impaired driving, operating a vehicle with more than 80 milligrams of alcohol in his blood and dangerous driving.

Then on July 15, 2001 in Kamloops, B.C. Ford was pulled over by police when he was spotted driving the wrong way on a one-way street. The officer followed Ford for a short time, noticing the vehicle was swerving from side to side within the lane.

The officer noticed Ford showing signs of intoxication once he approached the vehicle and attempted to arrest him for impaired driving. Ford then refused to exit the vehicle, argued with the officer and obstructed three attempts to obtain a breath sample.

Defence counsel Margot Engley said Ford has been working to straighten out his life since the incident in Kamloops, obtaining counselling for alcohol abuse and cocaine addiction.

Ford has since secured full-time employment and wanted to deal with his outstanding charges once and for all.

Bruser commended the accused for turning his life around, but gave him a warning.

"If you get back into drug and alcohol abuse, and there is a lot of it in Yellowknife, all of the good you have been doing will quickly unravel," said Bruser.

Ford pleaded guilty to operating a vehicle with too much alcohol in his blood, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, failing to appear in court, operating a vehicle while impaired and refusing the breathalyzer.

Bruser sentenced him to 90 days in jail to be served intermittently, fined him $1,500 and imposed a four-year driving prohibition.