Drunk driver hits lumberyard, hydro pole, tree

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This article was published 02/02/2025 (417 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Falcon Lake RCMP officer was the first to hear the end of a destructive drunken drive through town.

David Kost, 61, parked his Ford F-150 around a tree in front of the RCMP detachment around 10:48 p.m. on St Patrick’s Day last year.

An officer inside heard the loud crashing noise.

“Moments later he received a call from dispatch that a male driver had called 911 about a crash. The officer was already on the road investigating the noise when that call came in,” explained Crown prosecutor Jennifer Neufeld in Steinbach court Jan. 24, where Kost pleaded guilty to impaired driving.

The officer found the driver in the truck at the intersection of Falcon Boulevard and South Shore Road, at the entrance to town near the TransCanada Highway.

Airbags had gone off and the driver side one and Kost’s arms were covered in blood. The officers who responded noted the smell of alcohol coming from the driver in the crumpled truck.

Kost could not balance without help from the officer when he got out after some reluctance. He was described as “speaking in loops,” saying he wanted to go back to his cabin and repeating “You don’t know what I’m going through.” and “You don’t understand.”

He was taken to hospital by ambulance and a blood sample was given two hours after being found by police. His blood-alcohol reading came back more than double the legal limit.

Before Kost was done for the evening, he had driven over a frozen swamp, crashed through a lumberyard before plowing through a fence back onto the road, and knocked power out when he hit a ground wire that sheared a hydro pole.

It was at the hospital that police learned of the hydro pole damage.

“While the officer is still there in the hospital talking to the accused, he has a dispatch coming over the radio about a power outage … along South Shore Road.

“The accused had overheard this radio dispatch and tells the officer that he had struck a pole in Falcon Beach,” described the Crown.

The officer asked where he did that, and Kost guessed by the causeway near the lumberyard on Wildwood Drive near South Shore Road. The officer search along South Shore but did not spot the pole.

The next day officers were called to what was described as a break and enter at the lumberyard. They found a busted metal fence gate and started following a path of damage through the property.

Debris was scattered with what the Crown described as “multiple collision points.”

They determined the driver had entered by driving over the frozen swamp beside the yard, drove around and crashed into things including a door and inventory before making his exit through the fence. There was an estimated $10,000 in damage.

While investigating the scene, police also found the hydro pole that was damaged.

The truck had gone off the road while driving south on South Shore Road and, as the Crown described it in the agreed statement of facts, struck a grounding wire, shearing the pole and causing the power outage.

That next day Kost admitted to police he was the one who drove through the lumberyard.

Charges of mischief and driving more than double the legal limit were stayed as part of the plea agreement. The minimum fine for impaired driving is $1,000 with a one-year minimum driving prohibition, but goes up to a $2,000 minimum when convicted of driving at least double the .08 blood-alcohol limit.

Kost had no prior criminal record, which was taken into consideration when Judge Tony Cellitti handed down his $2,500 fine and one-year driving prohibition. Kost is also paying $4,999 to MPI in restitution.

Because he has a solid job at a real estate development and construction company based in Winnipeg, Kost also paid a 30 percent surcharge on the fine, giving him another $750 to pay.

There is also the costs that will come from MPI if he wants to get back behind the wheel.

“Mr. Kost is now the proud owner of a worthless chunk of metal,” added defence attorney Michael Dyck when pointing out there will be no insurance coverage for him either.

Dyck also said Kost had been going through since-resolved medical issues that caused him to self-medicate with alcohol and Tylenol 3s.

Judge Cellitti said he frequents the area and knows well how that area has no sidewalks, adding even more risk to a driver swerving drunk through town.

Kost took his opportunity to speak to the judge to express the disappointment he had in himself.

“You’ll never see me again,” said Kost.