The president of the Mothers Against Drunk Driving chapter in East Prince County, P.E.I., has resigned after being charged with two counts of impaired driving.
David Griffin, a former deputy chief with Summerside Police Services, was charged after being pulled over on June 5.
Griffin was the volunteer president of the local MADD chapter at the time of the incident. MADD says the 65-year-old notified them and resigned from his post shortly after being charged.
“When he was charged with impaired driving, obviously we have protocols and codes of conduct for staff and volunteers and obviously this type of behaviour can’t be tolerated by the organization, but before we had to invoke any of those types of procedures, he resigned himself and apologized to the organization and told us to keep up the good work,” said MADD Canada CEO Andrew Murie during a Skype interview with CTV Atlantic.
Murie said Griffin had been a dedicated volunteer with MADD Canada for three years.
MADD Canada is a charitable group that works to raise awareness about the dangers of alcohol and drug-impaired driving, and supports the victims and survivors of drunk driving.
“Obviously we’re very disappointed as an organization that one of our members was charged with impaired driving and we’re also very disappointed for that individual that, you know, has to go through this as well,” said Murie.
“We wish him all the best. He was a great volunteer, he served three years, he was a former police officer. His volunteering with us was at an incredible level so it’s unfortunate on both levels.”
Murie said he's been CEO of MADD Canada for 18 years and this is the first time he can remember anyone within the group facing an impaired driving charge.
Summerside Police declined to comment on the matter because it is now before the courts, but according to their statistics, charges like these are part of a disturbing trend.
Police records show they laid 48 impaired driving charges in the first six months of 2014, while in the same period this year that number grew to 65 charges.
Margaret Miller, former president of MADD Canada, says there’s a disturbing trend on an even larger scale.
“We keep thinking that we've beaten impaired drinking and driving and yet it happens and happens and all we have to do is look at the court reports to see again and again more people are being charged with impaired driving,” said Miller, who son was struck and killed by an impaired driver in 2004, while serving as a police officer.
Griffin is due to appear in Summerside provincial court on Aug. 27.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Jonathan MacInnis