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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Police find driver pantless in Brandon

By: Ian Hitchen

Posted: 02/11/2013 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

BRANDON -- A valid licence wasn't the only thing missing when a driver ran a van into a city beer vendor -- she was also missing her pants.

Crown attorney Grant Hughes said police got a surprise when they pulled over 43-year-old Josephine Agnes Baydak as she tried to drive away from the collision scene.

"She was naked from the waist down... Both Miss Baydak and the male passenger indicated they were having sex and that's why their pants were off," Hughes told Brandon court late last week.

Baydak was charged with impaired driving -- she had a mix of booze and drugs in her system as she tried to drive away from the scene.

As for the sequence of events that led to the collision with the building, they weren't outlined in court but Baydak's lawyer offered the following explanation on behalf of his client.

"She does indicate the accident wasn't caused as a result of her impairment, but more as a result of the activities she was engaged in in the vehicle," defence lawyer Ryan Fawcett told court.

Details of Tuesday evening's collision emerged as Baydak pleaded guilty to impaired driving.

She also pleaded guilty to identity fraud, failing to leave particulars after an accident and driving with an invalid licence.

Hughes said a City Centre Hotel employee called police around 8 p.m. to report that a vehicle had hit the vendor and they believed the driver was impaired.

Police arrived just as the damaged van was exiting the parking lot and they pulled it over. Nude below the waist, Baydak was in the driver's seat.

She showed signs of being impaired -- she had watery eyes, spoke quickly and fumbled the cigarette she was smoking and dropped it in her lap.

She was told to put pants on and, as she moved to the back of the vehicle to do so, police spotted an open bottle of liquor on the van's floor.

Tests showed that Baydak had a blood-alcohol level at, or just above, the legal limit. However -- besides admitting to drinking vodka and beer, she admitted that she'd smoked marijuana and taken prescription pills.

It's the combination of drugs and alcohol that led her to plead guilty to impaired driving for trying to drive away from the collision scene.

At first, she gave police her sister's name but Baydak's identity was discovered with the help of corrections records.

Her British Columbia driver's licence had expired in 2003. Baydak comes from B.C., but currently lives in Saskatchewan and was visiting Brandon.

Judge John Combs fined Baydak a total of $1,900 for all her charges and banned her from driving for a year.

ihitchen@brandonsun.com

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 11, 2013 A9

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