SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A man charged with riding a "pocket bike" without insurance or registration were withdrawn after the investigating municipal enforcement officer failed to show for traffic court.

Charges against Chad Malouin for riding his "pocket bike" without insurance or registration have been thrown out. - NNSL file photo

Chad Malouin was prepared to fight a $1,950 fine when the charges were thrown out on Nov. 19 after the officer failed to appear.

Doug Gillard, manager of municipal enforcement for the city, said the officer was on leave and was unavailable for court.

"These things happen. If a witness doesn't show for court matters are withdrawn. It happens in court lots of times," said Gillard.

Malouin said he was pulled over three times in total while riding the bike, Yellowknifer reported in August. The first time, he said, was by an RCMP officer who told him he thought the bike was pretty neat, but warned him to be careful on it. The second time, according to Malouin, was by a municipal enforcement officer who warned him that he needed registration and insurance to ride the bike legally. Malouin then went to the Department of Transportation (DOT) where he said officials told him that because of the small size of the motorbike's engine, 49 cubic centimetres (ccs), it could not be registered. Malouin said the department informed him bikes need at least 50 cc engines to be registered.

He was never told it was illegal to ride the bike on NWT roads, Malouin said. The third time he was pulled over, again by a city bylaw officer, Malouin said he was given the $1,950 ticket despite telling the officer what DOT officials had told him. At the time, Gillard said he said he provided Malouin with a DOT document showing him that the bike was prohibited. Gillard said he couldn't say why the initial bylaw officer didn't charge Malouin.

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