A New Brunswick woman is asking for an apology from the RCMP after a chronic lung condition caused her to fail a breathalyzer test — resulting in her car being impounded and her drivers licence suspended.
Connie McLean was leaving her home in Shannon, N.B. on March 2 around 8 p.m. when she said she was pulled over by the RCMP. McLean has Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and often has difficulty breathing.
She said the RCMP officer asked her if she’d had anything to drink that day and she told him she’d had one beer earlier that afternoon.
After being asked for her registration, and insurance the officer went back to his vehicle and produced a breathalyzer test.
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McLean said she tried several times to successfully give enough breath to complete the test, but said in the end she didn’t have the lung capacity for the device to get a proper reading. She said she was never offered an alternative blood test.
“I was kind of scared because he was so rough talking, and nervous and I still thought he was going to take me to jail until the very end when he asked if there was someone who could come and pick me up,” McLean said.
She charged under section 254 (5) of the Criminal Code of Canada for refusal to comply with completing a breathalyzer. McLean received a 90 day licence suspension and her vehicle was impounded for 30 days.
Global News reached out to the RCMP for comment but they declined saying the matter is before the courts.
“Punished for being sick”
McLean said doing every day tasks can be difficult because of her COPD. She said it’s often made worse by stress, and said she didn’t realize she couldn’t blow through a straw until the incident happened.
“I didn’t really know what to think, I was just almost to the point of tears because I didn’t do anything wrong…It’s being punished for being sick,” McLean said.
McLean’s nephew, Peter Lawson, said he’s shocked by the whole situation.
“I couldn’t really believe that that would happen,” Lawson said. “She wasn’t intoxicated or anything like that and she made it clear that she had COPD, she tried several times to take the breathalyzer and for some reason that wasn’t good enough for the officer.”
Lawson says his aunt’s record should be cleared, the bill should be covered and should go back to the way it was before the incident happened.
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McLean said she would love to see something done to change the way people with respiratory problems are treated when it comes to being unable to use a breathalyzer.
She said she is appealing the charge and has gotten medical tests done in the last two weeks to prove her lung capacity isn’t strong enough to use the device.
New Brunswick Lung Association Director of Health Initiatives Barbara Walls said this is the first case she’s heard about in nine years, but said it makes her wonder how many other people with respiratory problems didn’t appeal the charge.
She said the disease makes it extremely difficult for people to be able to breathe in and out, but she said breathing out can be even more challenging.
“When a person has COPD they already feel like they’re trying to breathe through a pillow,” Walls said.