Would-be racer gets six months
for drunk driving causing bodily harm
Joshua Andrews struck a man in Fieldhouse parking lot, breaking his leg
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A popular racing event held at the Fieldhouse in Yellowknife last summer went sideways when Joshua Andrews showed up.
On June 26, Andrews drove his mother's truck to the autocross competition hosted by the NWT Motorsports Club at the Fieldhouse parking lot at 11:30 in the morning.
A race official approached the vehicle and told Andrews that he would have to clean up the inside of the truck in order to enter the event. The official noticed a man in the passenger seat holding a bottle of vodka.
Court heard that Andrews then reversed his vehicle and struck a car behind him. The driver who had gotten out of his vehicle was knocked into a ditch and fractured his leg, court heard.
Defence lawyer Tu Pham said Andrews had tried to see if he could help the injured man when he was thrown into a propane cylinder by a spectator and challenged by the crowd.
Andrews was made to sit on a concrete barrier and wait for RCMP to arrive but fled on foot after a few seconds.
Five spectators chased Andrews to Bromley Crescent a few blocks away, where he surrendered to police.
Andrews, 19, failed a roadside alcohol test, blowing just under one a half times the legal limit. He pleaded guilty to drunk driving causing bodily harm in territorial court on Monday. Crown prosecutor Marc Lecorre called Andrews' attempt to enter the driving event while intoxicated "audacious" and "brazen."
Worse, Andrews was on probation at the time of his arrest, court heard. He got into trouble again in October when he failed to abide by one of his bail conditions, which was to adhere to a curfew while staying with his mother. That's when he was re-arrested and held in custody for his court appearance on Monday.
Andrews was eventually moved from the North Slave Correctional Centre to the Fort Smith Correctional Complex. He served 108 days in custody before his court appearance for which the judge gave him 162 days credit. Prisoners are routinely given 1.5 days credit for each day they spend in custody before their sentencing.
Dressed in a plaid shirt and black sweatpants, Andrews read from prepared notes and apologized to the court and the man he had injured, who had been a family friend. He said he is trying to turn his life around and wants to attend a heavy equipment operator program offered by Aurora College in Fort Smith upon his release.
Territorial court Justice Bernadette Schmaltz agreed to allow Andrews to serve the rest of his sentence in Fort Smith. That should amount to about 12 days if he behaves in jail, Pham said.
