FORT FRANCES, Ont. – Two women face impaired driving charges following separate incidents in Fort Frances earlier this month, one of which also drew an opioid-related possession charge.
On July 11, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officers with the Rainy River District detachment were alerted by a concerned citizen that a woman had been consuming alcohol for most of the morning while seated in her minivan in a Fort Frances parking lot.
Police say the woman pulled out of the parking lot when officers approached, proceeding to drive through a red light before being stopped.
As a result, a 52-year-old Fort Frances woman faces a charge of impaired driving and is scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 4.
OPP officers responded to another report of a suspicious person sitting inside a vehicle near a Fort Frances residential area on July 20.
Responding officers found three women sitting in an idling vehicle. Police say the woman in the driver’s seat was slumped over when they arrived, and an investigation revealed she had self-administered an illegal substance minutes beforehand.
As a result, police have charged a Mishkosiminiziibiing (Big Grassy) First Nation woman, 32, with impaired driving as well as possession of a controlled substance (opioid) and impounded the vehicle.
The woman is scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 17.
