Man with stage-4 cancer convicted of driving ATV on P.E.I. while drunk

A P.E.I. man with stage four cancer pleaded guilty to driving his ATV while impaired, flipping it in his parents’ driveway, breaking a rib and fracturing his pelvis.

Dwayne Doucette, 48, appeared before Chief Judge Nancy Orr in provincial court in Charlottetown Jan. 22 for plea and sentencing.

On Sept. 23, RCMP received a 911 call of an ATV accident in Donaldston.

Upon their arrival, a man on a stretcher was being placed into an ambulance.

Police spoke to the people at the scene and they indicated they witnessed that man flipping the ATV.

When the police went into the ambulance, they noted the man had slurred speech, his eyes were bloodshot and he had a strong smell of liquor on his breath.

He told them his name and that he was in a lot of pain but didn’t remember what happened.

He was taken to the hospital by Island EMS.

A blood sample was taken at the hospital. Results showed that he was more than twice the legal limit at the time of the accident.

Doucette moved back to P.E.I. from Quebec in April 2017 to live with his parents after learning his prostate cancer had progressed to stage four and that it had also spread to his bones.

His cancer is incurable. Defence attorney Joel Wonnacott said Doucette was trying to get the ATV started for his parents.

Doucette had his body on the right side of the ATV and was trying to operate the throttle.

The ATV started. Doucette’s foot got stuck on the pole on the side of the ATV as he shot out of the garage.

He tried to stop the ATV, but it toppled on top of him in the driveway, resulting in broken bones.

Doucette has two prior impaired driving convictions.

Wonnacott says his client has good and bad days since being diagnosed.

“Some days he can’t move at all because of the pain from the bone cancer. During those days, his mother does take care of him.”

Doucette received 60 days’ house arrest, two years’ driving prohibition and must pay $100 to the victims of crime fund.