Man with severe asthma says new police powers unfair for people unable to do breath test (CBC News)

If someone’s unable to provide a sample upon demand, it’s my position that the police should have to get engaged in some minor investigation to find out for themselves whether there’s a legitimate reason for that or not.

Jennifer Teryn, Lawyer

“Jimmy Forster, 63, suffers from severe asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and takes daily medications to help him breathe.

He lives in the small village of Chase — population 2,300 — in the B.C. Interior.

In recent months, Chase RCMP have pulled Forster over twice and charged him with failing to provide a breath sample, after he was unable to blow hard enough into a breathalyzer device to register a reading.

“I’m just totally stressed right now,” says Forster, who has an audible wheeze when he speaks and slightly slurred speech due to a childhood brain injury that also left him with a limp.”

Erica Johnson, CBC News

Full article available on CBC.ca.