An impaired driver was arrested last week in Weyburn after being reported by a witness as driving his vehicle from one drinking establishment to another.
Deputy Chief Shane St. John with the Weyburn Police Service said while the man wasn't found driving, they had evidence and witnesses that put him behind the wheel.
"They don't need to be found driving anymore with laws. The person was very impaired and refused any sort of investigation into his impairment."
He said refusing a breathalyzer is the same as being over the .08 charge. Either way, the charge is laid under the Criminal Code of Canada.
"Given the demand to participate in the impaired investigation, to blow onto an approved screening device or even into the intoxilyzer, the breathalyzer, here at the station, if they refuse any of that investigation at any time, they're charged criminally for refusal. They lose their license immediately. They're given a court date."
Due to the refusal, the man has also lost possession of his vehicle, which was impounded for 60 days, rather than for 30 days.
St. John said that, in his experience, highly intoxicated people are more likely to refuse the approved screening device.
"In this circumstance, the person was too intoxicated to really understand the process until they were sober," he noted, adding the person may have thought it would be better for them not to participate.
"It's just a poor judgment call. Any lawyer that they would call would tell them to participate in the process. You go through it, don't refuse. That's always the advice lawyers give is not to refuse it."