Police target repeat impaired drivers in Mississauga and Brampton
Published August 13, 2021 at 6:57 pm
A Brampton man charged with impaired driving this week has been convicted four previous times of similar offences, police say.
The arrest was made on Wednesday afternoon by officers with the Peel Regional Police Safer Roads Team, formed earlier this year to track habitual offenders convicted of impaired driving, stunt driving and other dangerous driving charges.
Members of the six-officer unit staked out a Brampton home, near Sandalwood Pkwy. and Cobblestone Court, and subsequently arrested a man who left the house and appeared to be impaired as he stepped into a car to drive.
Gilberto Mora, 58, is charged with impaired operation of a motor vehicle and operation while prohibited. He appeared in Brampton court on Thursday.
Police say further investigation revealed he was convicted of similar offences four times previously.
Inspector Pete Danos, head of Peel police Road Safety Services, said the Safer Roads Team was created in May in response to a horrific crash last year in Brampton that killed a woman and her three young daughters.
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A Caledon man who pleaded guilty to four counts of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death in connection with the June 2020 crash had been convicted previously of driving offences, police say.
Danos said the team proactively investigates those identified by police as high-risk, habitual driving offenders. Currently, police are keeping tabs on 36 people identified as being a high risk to reoffend.
The message from the Safer Roads Team is clear, police say.
“If you’re a prohibited driver, we’ll be on you,” said Danos, adding police are also being proactive on another front as well.
“Yes, we’ll rely on the long arm of the law (to arrest habitual offenders),” he continued. “But we’re also dealing with the addiction part of this. Upon making an arrest, we also refer (the offender) to the Peel Addiction Assessment and Referral Centre.”
In the June 18, 2020 Brampton crash, Karolina Ciasullo, 37, and her daughters Klara, 6, Lilanna, 3, and Mila, 1, were killed after the SUV they were travelling in was struck by an Infiniti G35 near Torbram Rd. and Countryside Dr. The Infiniti was being chased by a Peel police cruiser, and was travelling at dangerously high speeds, police say.
Brady Robertson, 21, of Caledon, pleaded guilty in connection to that crash.
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