Sudbury driver tried to flee police – at 25 km an hour

Jory Verkuil was ‘under the influence’ when he was stopped twice by Greater Sudbury Police and had to be grounded

Article content A Sudbury driver stopped twice by a police officer and who was charged with drug-impaired driving has pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of careless driving. “Mr. (Jory) Verkuil: you’re lucky somebody called this in that night,” Ontario Court Justice Kara Vakiparta told Verkuil in Sudbury court. “When I have been in the courts for the last two decades, it’s just a matter of luck you are not facing more serious charges, that you are standing here today.”

Recommended Videos Vakiparta, accepting a joint sentencing submission, issued a $1,000 fine and an 18-month probation order. The order includes the conditions that Verkuil complete the province’s Back on Track program and not drive with any intoxicants in his system. The court heard through an agreed statement of facts that on May 31, 2025, Greater Sudbury Police were called about a man in the driver’s seat of a Honda Civic.

The vehicle had not moved in about two hours in the area known as Deadman’s Curve. The caller indicated that “the male appeared to be under the influence of alcohol and out of it.” An officer located the Honda Civic, which was being driven slowly.

The officer stopped Verkuil, the driver. Verkuil had difficulty answering questions, provided delayed answers and “appeared to be lost in his words.” An Approved Screening Device test produced a zero reading.

As police were about to arrest Verkuil, he began to drive away, but at a speed that did not top 25 kilometres an hour. The officer then stopped the Honda Civic a second time. Verkuil, who was still slurring his words, actively resisted being arrested and had to be grounded.

“He was under the influence of a substance,” said assistant Crown attorney Sasha Bronicheski. When Vakiparta asked what the substance was, both Bronicheski and defence lawyer Charles Bourgeois could not say. “He accepts that his driving on the day in question was careless,” said Bourgeois.

In his sentencing submission, Bourgeois said Verkuil works as a development miner. Due to regular drug testing in the industry, he said his client couldn’t keep his job if he was using drugs on an “ongoing basis.” “This appears to be totally an aberration of his character, of his normal conduct,” said Bourgeois.

Bronicheski said that “it is clearly concerning Mr. Verkuil was driving under the influence in a motor vehicle on a highway that could have had an impact on him and others.” She said the plea saved both court time and resources and, had the case gone to trial, there would have been “significant triable issues.” Bronicheski called the proposed sentence for Verkuil “appropriate in the circumstances.”

X: @HaroldCarmichae