Drunk northern Ont. man drives to buy beer, directs racist slur at store clerk: OPP

Efforts to reduce impaired driving in the northeast seem to be working in some communities – provincial police say stats are still high.

An Elliot Lake man is accused of driving drunk to a local convenience store to buy beer where he used racial slurs to insult the store clerk before driving home.

At about 7:45 p.m. on Saturday, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officers from the East Algoma detachment responded to a report of a possible impaired driver who had just left a convenience store on Esten Drive South in Elliot Lake.

“Prior to leaving, the regular customer purchased beer and made derogatory comments towards the store clerk using racial slurs,” said police in a news release Sunday.

“A short time later police located the driver standing outside their residence, approximately 200 feet from the store.”

Upon speaking with the man officers determined that he had been consuming alcohol and took him into custody.

“The driver was transported to Elliot Lake detachment for further testing,” OPP said.

The man was kept in police custody overnight until he was sober.

As a result, the 57-year-old man from Elliot Lake now faces an impaired driving charge for having a blood alcohol concentration of more than 80.

In addition to the charge, the accused also had their licence suspended for 90 days and per provincial law the vehicle involved was impounded for seven days at the owner’s expense.

The accused was released and is scheduled to appear in court on March 13 to answer the charges.