Sleeping in traffic, striking guardrails and one dead dog; the consequences of Peel’s drunk driving cops

Five Peel Police officers were disciplined in 2025 for getting behind the wheel drunk; the shocking details are laid out in plain language in a report to the Peel Police Services Board with a benign title: “2025 Corporate Risk Management Annual Public Report”.

Peel Police have made no public statements about the incidents, despite press releases outlining the harm impaired driving causes. Last year, Deputy Chief Marc Andrews labelled impaired driving in Peel a “scourge”.

From falling asleep in a live lane of traffic, speeding 33 kilometres (km) over the limit, to colliding with the attenuator separating the collector and express lanes on Highway 401 which killed a dog inside the vehicle, each of these officers posed a significant danger to the public.

None of them lost their jobs. 

While pleading guilty to criminal charges of either impaired or careless driving and being hit with a driving prohibition and varying levels of fines, the only consequence from the Peel Police was a reduction in rank.

The names of the guilty officers are not provided in the public report, which details their shocking behaviour. 

In one incident: “While off-duty, the officer’s vehicle was observed parked in a live lane for approximately 10 minutes. Police were contacted and attended the scene where they found the officer asleep while occupying the driver’s seat of the vehicle.”

The officer pleaded guilty to driving while impaired and was handed a 90-day license suspension, a $2,300 fine and a $690 victim surcharge. Peel Police reduced the officer’s rank from First Class Constable to Second Class for one year. 

In another incident, the off-duty officer was driving drunk on Highway 401 in Milton when they lost control of their vehicle, striking the barrier at the start of the guardrail when the collector and express lanes split. 

“Ontario Provincial Police (O.P.P.) officers arrived on scene and observed the officer displaying obvious signs of impairment,” the police services board report details. The officer provided two breath samples, both of which registered over the legal limit. 

“The officer suffered minor bruises and abrasions as a result of the M.V.C. (motor vehicle collision), however, a dog that was also in the vehicle, died as a result of the incident.”

The officer pleaded guilty to impaired driving and was fined $3,000 along with a 12-month driving prohibition.
Peel Police reduced the officer’s rank from First Class Constable to Second Class Constable for 20 months.

In another incident, an off-duty Peel officer was driving in Toronto when they struck a parked car.

“A witness called 911 and advised the call taker that the officer ‘sideswiped a parked car’ and that the driver ‘seemed out of it as if they were intoxicated or injured’,” the report details. 

When police arrived on scene, paramedics informed them the officer had been medically clear, but “wanted to remain seated inside the ambulance for unknown reasons”.

“The officer appeared confused, and when asked to produce their Ontario driver’s licence, handed over their Ontario health card. When asked what happened regarding the collision, the officer spoke incoherently and stated that ‘there was a guy, then there was a call for another guy, and then they didn’t know as they were just trying to focus on getting to work,’” the report details. 

The officer later pleaded guilty to impaired driving and was handed a 12-month driving prohibition and a $1,000 fine.

The officer’s rank was reduced from Third Class Constable to Fourth Class for two years.

In another instance, while off duty, Waterloo Regional Police approached the officer’s parked vehicle. The officer was in the passenger seat and there was an obvious smell of alcohol in the vehicle.

The off-duty Peel officer said he had consumed alcohol “earlier in the evening”. 

“The W.R.P.S. officer demanded that they provide

a sample of breath into the Approved Screening Device (A.S.D.). The officer advised that they understood the procedures and identified themself as a police officer with P.R.P. The officer was placed under arrest for failing to provide a breath sample into an A.S.D. Moments later, the officer indicated that they would provide a breath sample. The officer provided a suitable breath sample,

which registered a ‘fail’ on the A.S.D.”

The officer was charged with impaired driving, but would later plead guilty to careless driving. The report does not explain the sequence of events surrounding the charges. 

They received a $1,250 fine and a reduction in rank from First Class Constable to Second for a period of 11 months. 

“Although the officer identified themself as a police officer, they did not attempt to use their position to gain any consideration during the incident,” the report reads. “During their compelled interview, the officer was remorseful and took responsibility for the incident.”

In another instance, an off-duty officer was pulled over in Hamilton for going 93 km/h [kilometre per hour] in a 60 km/h zone. 

Police detected the odour of alcohol on the officer’s breath.

According to the report, the officer denied consuming any alcohol, but then failed the breathalyzer. The officer’s rank was reduced from Second Class Constable to Third Class for one year and five months. 

Peel Police did not respond to a request for comment on this issue, or detail whether any review has been conducted following these incidents. 

The MADD memorial in Brampton’s Chinguacousy Park to those killed by drunk drivers.

(City of Brampton)

This is not the first time Peel Police have dealt with impaired driving by one of their members. 

In 2019, Adrian Wooley, President of the Peel Regional Police Association (PRPA) was pulled over on a section of the QEW in Hamilton after being clocked at 74 kilometres over the posted 100 km/h speed limit, and subsequently failed a screening test after “an odour of an alcoholic beverage” was detected. The shocking action received no public denouncement from police leadership or the police services board. 

This behaviour by sworn police officers comes as Peel is still healing from the deep cut slashed by the impaired driving of Brady Robertson. 

Residents were shocked in 2020 when Robertson, a 20-year-old at the time, was behind the wheel of a blue Infiniti G35 with more than eight times the legal limit of THC in his system as he sped toward the intersection of Torbram Road and Countryside Drive in Brampton, going at least 135 kilometres an hour. Robertson struck the SUV of Karolina Ciasullo which was waiting at the lights with her three daughters inside—all under the age of six—shortly after noon on a clear, sunny day. All four were killed and Robertson was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. He was sentenced to 17 years in prison in 2022. While he appealed the conviction, it was dismissed earlier this year. 

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