Michael Luzzi's decision to give an intoxicated friend a ride home from a bar earlier this year turned out to be a bad idea.
The 61-year-old was charged with a drinking and driving offence after he was found passed out behind the wheel of his vehicle in the city's east end.
He pleaded guilty Monday to operating a vehicle with a blood-alcohol level exceeding 80 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millitres of blood.
The court heard city police were dispatched to a complaint about a passed-out motorist in a vehicle at the intersection of South Market Street and Trunk Road at 2:21 a.m. on May 4.
When officers arrived six minutes later they found Luzzi behind the wheel of the vehicle, which was parked but running at the intersection.
They were able to wake up Luzzi, who indicated he had been driving home from the bar after drinking two tallboys of an alcoholic beverage, prosecutor Karen Pritchard said.
He registered a fail on a roadside breath screening test and was arrested for over 80, she said.
A breathalyzer test showed a reading of 130 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millitres of blood.
The assistant Crown attorney and defence lawyer Don Orazietti jointly called for a $2,000 fine and a one-year driving prohibition.
Orazietti said his client was being a Good Samaritan and had driven "a rather intoxicated friend home."
Luzzi has a predisposition to an illness that "causes him to fall asleep," he told Ontario Court Justice John Condon.
"He is very apologetic and upset this happened."
On his own, he has taken an employee counselling program and "has every intention to make sure this never happens again," Orazietti said.
"I'm really sorry. I went off track and now I've got to deal with the consequences," Luzzi told the judge, indicating he's grateful he didn't injure himself or anyone else.
It was very difficult explaining what happened to his children, he said, because "I always preached at them not to do this."
Condon said he was pleased to hear Luzzi has taken counselling and is determined not to drink and drive again.
Noting the incident had occurred at a high volume traffic area in the city, he said "the readings were not the highest, but not the lowest either."
When Condon imposed the penalty, he told Luzzi "you probably got a bigger sentence than this trying to explain it to your children.
"Hopefully, this will not happen again."