Nova Scotia judge acquits man who drove injured friend to hospital while drunk

AMHERST, N.S. – A Nova Scotia judge has accepted the defence of necessity in acquitting a man of impaired driving after he drove his concussed and bleeding friend to hospital following a night of drinking.

Judge Paul Scovil says an acquittal in such a case is rare and his decision should not seen as condoning impaired driving.

Scovil’s decision, released Monday, says Roger Pleau was impaired when he drove his injured friend, Eldon Deegan, to hospital in Upper Nappan on Oct. 4, 2012.

The two men had been drinking beer when Deegan left his apartment to smoke a cigarette outside and fell down some stairs, cutting his head on an iron handrail.

Both men were locked out of the building without a key and neither had a cellphone.

Scovil says Deegan was incoherent and having trouble breathing when Pleau “panicked” and drove his friend to hospital, where a nurse noticed he was intoxicated and called police.

In acquitting Pleau, Scovil says the accused was forthright and credible in his testimony, and did not believe he had time to find a “reasonable legal alternative” to driving, given his friend’s serious injuries.