The former Chief of Collingwood Corner, NS, fire department who was withdrawn from his position after the death of a motocmaller in February now faces charges for driving with disabilities and obstructing a peace officer in New Brunswick.
RCMP Say Jerrold Cotton, 51, crashed his vehicle on May 4 on highway 2 near Sackville, NB
The officers allegedly “observed a liquor open in the vehicle and the driver’s poisoning signs, Mr. Cotton, who was the only occupant,” said a RCMP spokesman in New Brunswick in an email.
Cotton appeared in the Provincial Court of Moncton on August 29 for disabled driving positions, driving with a blood alcohol concentration greater than 80 and obstructing a peace officer.
RCMP rejected an interview application.
The incident occurred less than three months after cotton hit a snow motorcycle in Wyvern Road in Collingwood Corner while driving a municipal firefighter truck.
Blake Nicholson, 28, was on snow motorcycles in Collingwood Corner on the night of February 21 when he hit a snow bank and crashed.
Police said the witnesses were providing RCP to Nicholson on the road when he was hit by the Fire Truck that had been called to help him. He was declared dead a short time later.
In his obituary, Nicholson was described as an avid outdoor man who had a huge heart and “would give you the back shirt.” He left his fiancee and his two -year -old son.
CBC News asked at the service of Forensic Medical of Nueva Scotia if he could confirm that Nicholson was killed by the collision with the fire truck. Did not respond until the deadline.
No positions have been presented and the investigation is still open, said New Scotland RCMP. They would not say if there is any evidence that could explain what caused the collision between the Fire Department and Nicholson. The truck and snow motorcycle were seized by RCMP.
The RCMP told CBC News in February that they did not give cotton a breathalyzer test on the scene.
Cotton previously admitted to drunk driving
Greg Herrett, the CAO of the municipality of Cumberland, told the Municipal Council at an emergency meeting shortly after the incident that Cotton was not truthful with municipal officials about hitting Nicholson with the fire truck.
Nor did he tell them that the fire truck had been seized by the police, said Herrett.
Herrett said the Cotton Council responded to an emergency call three days after the incident, although he publicly said he would move away from his duties. He said Cotton had taken his wife, then the Fire Chief of Andrea Bishop, to the scene, but relatives of the woman who asked for help rejected assistance once they saw cotton.
At the February meeting, friends and family of Nicholson questioned why it took so long when the Council withdraw to cotton, who previously declared guilty of driving with disabilities in the Fire Department in 2020.
According to the New Scotland Public Processing Service, that conviction included a fine of $ 2,000, a license suspension from November 30, 2020 to May 31, 2022, and a 18 -month prohibition order in motor vehicles.
Cotton and bishop downloaded
Herrett said that the municipality also prohibited cotton from driving municipal vehicles for about a year, but did not have the authority at that time to eliminate individual chiefs or the attached chiefs of fire departments.
Last year, in response to the positions established against cotton in 2020, the municipality promulgated a regulation that included a code of conduct for bosses and vice presidents. The advice found that cotton and bishop violate that code of conduct in February.
This allowed the couple to be downloaded. They were also forbidden for the life of Fire Hall, and the locks changed.
Cotton will return in the Provincial Court of Moncton on October 17 to present a plea for the last charges for driving with disabilities.
