Canadian sentenced for driving wheelchair drunk

TORONTO (Reuters) - A Canadian man was sentenced for drunk driving after being pulled over on his way home from the pub in his mother's motorized wheelchair, police said on Thursday.

Patrick Shanahan, 35, was fined and placed on probation by a Toronto-area court on Wednesday in the impaired driving case.

"I don't need a license to operate it, I don't need insurance and I don't need license plates to operate it," Shanahan was quoted by the Torstar News Service.

"So how can I be charged with drunk driving?"

The charge stems back to December 2004, when an officer saw Shanahan driving the wheelchair at around 1:15 a.m. and assessed that he was drunk, a police spokesman said.

The self-described alcoholic, who has a prior impaired driving conviction -- though not in a wheelchair -- later admitted he shouldn't have been driving the three-wheeler at the time, Torstar reported.

Shanahan was prohibited from driving any motorized vehicle for one year, was fined C$600, given 18 months probation, and ordered to seek counseling.