Mints Insufficient to Mask Repeat Drunk Driver’s Odor of Alcohol

BOSTON, Nov. 20, 2013—A repeat drunk driver from Canton was arraigned this week after he struck another vehicle while operating under the influence of alcohol, District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

HECTOR TOLEDO (D.O.B. 4/24/64) was arraigned Monday in West Roxbury District Court on charges of operating under the influence of alcohol as a fourth offense and possession of an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle. Judge Robert McKenna granted Assistant District Attorney Christopher Aiello’s request that bail be set in the amount of $5,000 and revoked Toledo’s bail in an open case out of Boston Municipal Court in which he is charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and assault and battery, as well as a second case out of Dedham District Court charging assault and battery.  He was additionally ordered to remain alcohol-free.

Toledo has prior convictions for operating under the influence of alcohol in 1991, 2000, and 2001 and a record littered with defaults in those and other cases.

According to prosecutors, Boston Police officers responded to the scene of a minor fender bender at the intersection of Washington and Beech streets in Roslindale at approximately 5:20 p.m. Sunday with information that one of the drivers may have been drunk.  Officers arrived to find Toledo standing outside his 1998 Jaguar, where he appeared unsteady on his feet and was vigorously chewing a mouthful of mints, prosecutors said.  Also on scene was the 54-year-old Roslindale woman whose 1998 Toyota Corolla Toledo is alleged to have lightly struck from behind as she was stopped at a traffic light.

Officers took note of an open brown paper bag on the car’s passenger seat that contained a soda bottle, a water bottle, and an empty bottle of Ruble Vodka.  When asked if he had been drinking from the bottle, Toledo allegedly told officers that he had finished off the bottle a week earlier, prosecutors said.

Toledo leaned through across the passenger’s seat of his vehicle to obtain his license from the driver’s side and had difficulty returning to an upright position, prosecutors said.  He then struggled to pull his license through a side of his wallet that did not contain an opening.

Officers attempted to conduct field sobriety tests, but Toledo nearly fell as he stepped out of his car and was allowed to sit for a period of time, prosecutors said.  A second attempt at the tests was similarly aborted when Toledo again nearly fell to the ground as he tried to stand.  Officers placed him under arrest.

As police prepared to have Toledo’s car towed, a second bottle of Ruble Vodka was found under the driver’s seat.  The container held approximately a half-inch of liquid.

At the station, the smell of the mints that Toledo consumed gave way to the odor of alcohol emanating from his person.  Officers made a third attempt to administer a series of sobriety tests, each of which Toledo failed, prosecutors said.  He refused a breath test.

Toledo is represented by Robert Tobin.  He will return to court on Dec. 16.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.