Man riding lawnmower with child on his lap dinged for drunk driving

A man on a lawnmower drew the ire of police officers in Winkler, Man., and later landed him with an impaired driving charge. 

Officers in the southern Manitoba town, located about 100 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg, received an anonymous complaint at about 9 p.m. CT Saturday about a man weaving down a city street on a lawn tractor with a young boy on his lap.

"It's rare to have somebody driving along with a garden tractor and it's even more rare to have this kind of an incident," Winkler police chief Rick Hiebert told CBC News. "I think I can recall only a small handful of these kinds of offenses in my career here." 

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Police caught up with the man and lawn tractor on a sidewalk along Park Street. 

He told officers he was coming from the bar, a police release said, adding that he threw beer onto the ground before he was pulled over and had difficulty standing and speaking, but was cooperative with officers. 

Police later found three more unopened cans of beer. 

Hiebert said the incident is a reminder that impaired driving isn't limited to cars and trucks.  

"The Criminal Code clearly defines that you can be charged with impaired driving when you're driving any motor vehicle," he said. 

"It's always concerning when people drink and drive and they have passengers which they are also endangering," said Hiebert. "Especially in a situation when the passenger is not of age to make a decision as to whether they want to ride with the driver."

A Winkler man, 41, was arrested and charged with impaired driving, driving while disqualified and unlawful transportation of liquor. 

"It's concerning and you're just thankful that nothing occurred that caused injury to either of them," he said.  

The man was released into the custody of his wife.