The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal just dealt with an interesting impaired driving/over 80 case.
There was a very minor fender bender while cars were parking. A witness thought one of the drivers was impaired and called in the vehicle type and license number to the police
The police looked up the registered owner and found he was listed at a certain unit in an apartment building.
They went there to investigate and to see if he appeared impaired.
The fellow answered his door and spoke with the police.They could tell by his breath that he was intoxicated. He admitted operating his vehicle.
At trial, the fellow was acquitted.
The judge ruled it was an unreasonable search and seizure and kicked out the evidence.
The Crown appealed to their Superior Court and won- that court focused on the “implied license to knock” rule and focused on the fact that the police were not in a private area when they received the breath- they were in the hallway of an apartment building.
The Court of Appeal agreed that the “license to knock” doctrine could apply, if the police were just there to obtain information from the accused.
However, since the police wanted to get “real evidence”meaning the smell of his breath, it was not something covered by the “implied license to knock” doctrine. They thus excluded the evidence, and acquitted the man.
The next time there is a knock on my door, I will think of this case. You normal people will not, you will probably just think “great, the pizza is here!”
Enjoy the end of summer folks.