A resident of Airdrie faces impaired driving charges after crashing her Jeep SUV into another vehicle and a power box on Spring Haven Court in Airdrie’s Big Springs neighbourhood at 11:24 p.m. on Aug. 26.
Sherrie Heil, 36, has been charged with one count of Impaired Driving and one count of Impaired Driving over .08.
Heil was given a roadside screening using a special device officers carry, according to Sgt. Dennis Esayenko of the Airdrie RCMP, and then a brethalizer test at the Airdrie detachment where she blew over .08. Esayenko would not release the amount the driver blew over the legal limit.
“The instrument that is at the detachment gives an exact reading, plus or minus 20 miligrams,” according to Esayenko.
“That’s the instrument that is approved by the Criminal Code for deciding if someone is impaired by alcohol.”
Under the Alberta Traffic Safety Act, Heil received an immediate suspension of her license and an automatic appearance in court. Her license will remain suspended until the charges are resolved. Her vehicle was also seized for three days, according to Esayenko. He said he would not release information on when Heil will make her first appearance in Airdrie Provincial Court.
Ashley Robinson, a resident of Spring Haven Court, said her family was jolted by the noise from the impact.
“All of a sudden there was this awful noise and a bang,” Robinson said. “Then I went outside and saw the cars. And there was no power.”
“The accident happened and then we realized she (Heil) was drunk,” she added. “It was a parked car that she moved about two-and-a-half to three houses down, and she moved the power box two feet.”
“We waited and waited and the RCMP showed up about half-an-hour after we called the cops,” said Robinson. “FortisAlberta showed up about 45 minutes after that. About 1 a.m., the fire department showed up to clean up.”
Robinson said she was surprised it took RCMP half-an-hour to get to the scene and that no ambulance came despite both air bags being deployed in the Jeep. However, Esayenko said Aug. 26 was an unusually busy night for officers.
“There was an armed robbery and we had a couple on a rampage stealing stuff who might have been involved in a robbery as well, so it was very busy,” he said. See related story on page 3.
“The situation is that we clear from whatever scene we can as soon as we can to get to the next call. They got to this scene as fast as they could after dealing with those other matters.”
“Nobody exhibited any injuries at the scene so that was the reason for no ambulance attending,” explained Esayenko.
Chris Coleman is also a resident of Spring Haven Court and made the 911 call to RCMP.
“(Heil) kept wanting to walk away from the accident, she was so intoxicated,” Coleman said. “She didn’t even know what she was doing. Cups of beer were falling out of her vehicle. I was on the phone with the police and she vanished. She was trying to flee the scene. My son went over and grabbed her. She was so intoxicated, she didn’t even know the police vehicle pulled up beside her.”
“That’s not uncommon. Sometimes it’s a show that impaired drivers put on, too,” Esayenko said. “It’s sometimes like they’re trying to convince us that we have the wrong person.”
Robinson said she’s lived on Spring Haven Court for a year-and-a-half and speeding drivers have been an issue.
“Bylaw has been called several times, RCMP have been called. It’s been brought to people’s attention that this is just a speed trap,” she said.
“Nothing’s been done about it.”
Coleman said he is also concerned by the number of drivers who speed down that stretch of Spring Haven Court.
“What if one of these guys ends up in my front yard?” he asked.
“I have kids. I have grandkids. This is just insane. I’m going to need to get some steel and concrete barriers for the safety of my family. If this (had happened in the) daytime, there would have been death. Kids walk up and down that street. Somebody definitely would have been killed.”
Esayenko said he could only comment on this particular incident.
“On the face of this investigation, impairment was definitely the major contributing factor,” he said. “I’m not saying speeding (in that location) isn’t a problem, but based on this particular complaint, this was entirely caused through impaired driving. If she was speeding at the time, injuries would have occurred, and there weren’t any.”
Robinson said power to the neighbourhood was restored by 1 a.m. on Aug. 27.
