ATHABASCA – A late-night incident that saw two cars speed past an Alberta Sheriff will cost one man $1,620 after he was clocked 181 km/h in a 100 km/h zone.
In Athabasca Court of Justice July 10, Shayne Nicholas Marko pleaded guilty to speeding, as well as a rarer charge of driving with an obstructed windshield, as part of a joint submission between provincial Crown prosecutor Rizwan Suleman, and defence lawyer Lisa Trach. Marko will pay $1,620 in fines, and had his driver's licence suspended for one month as part of the plea deal.
Justice Gordon Putnam accepted the joint submission, giving Marko six months to pay at the request of his lawyer; while Marko is currently working, he plans on hiring someone to drive him to jobsites for the next month, which Trach said will put a strain on his income.
The facts
Suleman told court that just after midnight Aug. 13, 2022, Sheriff Matt Butcher was on patrol on Highway 2 near Colinton when he saw two vehicles travelling at very high speeds — one was going 163 km/h and the other was flying along at 179 km/h. Butcher turned around and started a pursuit, at which point one of the vehicles started to slow down, but not before it was clocked at a peak speed of 181 km/h.
Suleman said that once the vehicle was stopped, Butcher noticed that the vehicle was driving with an obscured windshield; while Suleman didn’t specify what obscured the windshield, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s department was able to confirm that there was a substantial amount of mud obscuring the driver’s vision.
