SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A drunken driver who plowed into deep snow outside J.H. Sissons School while children were playing in the schoolyard was handed a $1,700 fine Tuesday morning and ordered not to drive for 15 months.

The man, 48, pleaded guilty to drunk driving with over three times the legal limit in his system on Feb. 11.

At 1:40 p.m. on the day in question, a worker cleaning snow off the sidewalk in front of J.H. Sissons witnessed the guilty man's car swerve off the road into deep snow, said Crown prosecutor Danielle Vaillancourt.

The man got out of the car and urinated on the back bumper before getting back in to try to get the car unstuck. When a bylaw officer arrived on scene, the man was asleep at the wheel. The RCMP was called and while the bylaw officer waited, the man woke up and made another attempt to get the car out of the snowbank.

Vaillancourt said the man had a "strong odour" of Listerine on his breath and was asked multiple times to produce his licence. He responded by saying "yes," but did not show the officer his identification, the Crown prosecutor said.

Police arrested the man and he gave two breath samples, both recording over three times the legal limit.

"There were many, many lives at risk that day," Vaillancourt said. "He's really lucky he hit that snowbank."

Vaillancourt said the man, who had no previous convictions for drinking and driving, could face jail time if he drove intoxicated again.

Defence lawyer Tom Boyd provided the court with three letters of support for the man – from his sister, his partner and from a support worker, showing he had begun to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and counselling at the Tree of Peace.

Because the man cannot speak English well, he is "very keen" on keeping his employment with one of the diamond mines to provide for his family.

"It's a matter of pride for him," Boyd said.

The man told Judge Bernadette Schmaltz he got behind the wheel because he didn't want to get a parking ticket and he was sorry for what he had done.

"It was a one-time thing," he said, sobbing lightly, adding it was out of his character. "I could've hurt someone."

Schmaltz said, "Alcohol is a difficult problem, but no one is addicted to driving. If you're going to drink, put the keys away."

Schmaltz added that the man is a father figure to his two boys, both under the age of 15, and setting the best example is important.

"The last thing you want them to do is drink and drive," she said.