OTTAWA – Suspended senator Patrick Brazeau was due to appear in a Gatineau, Que., courtroom Tuesday after he was arrested on the weekend for allegedly being drunk behind the wheel of a parked car and carrying a knife.
A police officer reported seeing Brazeau alone in the car and said he smelled alcohol on the senator and found a knife in the vehicle.
Police say Brazeau has been charged with:
- Having had the care or control of a motor vehicle while his ability to operate the vehicle was impaired by alcohol or a drug;
- Having had the care or control of a motor vehicle having consumed alcohol in such a quantity that his blood exceeded 80 ml of alcohol per 100 ml of blood; and,
- Breach of conditions for having possession of a weapon.
Gatineau police spokesman Const. Pierre Lanthier said only that the knife found in the car with Brazeau was “a real knife.” The senator could also face a $200 fine for being found with a prohibited weapon, Lanthier added.
The constable said Brazeau was arrested after he blew twice the legal limit during a roadside breathalyzer test. Police said he also failed a second breathalyzer test at the police station.
The car has been impounded for 30 days, and Brazeau’s licence has been suspended for 90 days.
Lanthier said he didn’t know if the car belonged to Brazeau, who was found in the driver’s seat, or to someone else.
When Brazeau was arrested in April on assault, drug and other charges, one of the conditions of his release from custody was that he wasn’t allowed to have any weapons.
In April, Brazeau was charged with assault, possession of cocaine, uttering threats and breaching bail conditions following an altercation involving a man and a woman at a home in Gatineau. He has pleaded not guilty.
Brazeau also faces charges of assault and sexual assault in relation to an incident from February 2013 that got him booted from the Conservative caucus. He will stand trial for those charges in late March 2015.
He also faces charges of fraud and breach of trust in connection with his Senate expense claims.
Last year the Senate ordered Brazeau to pay back almost $50,000 over disputed expense claims. He refused and the Senate garnisheed his salary until last November, when he was suspended without pay.
