Your HRSBT editors did not think we would run across this again—an employee guilty of driving an employer-owned 4-ton Zamboni® indoors while impaired. But did another worker just do this again, this time in Fargo? You betcha!
 |
In 2007, HRSBT reported on the employee of a hockey arena who “crashed the boards” while driving a Zamboni at top speed (9 mph) after drinking coffee liberally laced with Sambuca.
Police were called. The employee’s blood alcohol level was over the legal limit. A judge ruled that driving a motor vehicle is driving a motor vehicle, indoors or out, and charged him with a DUI.
In the latest incident, a Fargo Park District employee was resurfacing the ice during a high school hockey game at a city-owned arena when bystanders noticed his passes were wavy and that he was operating the Zamboni erratically.
An official called the Fargo Police Department—no, Chief Marge Gunderson did not arrive—and the employee was charged with a possible DUI. Another employee who can drive the ice-shaving vehicle was called, but the two hockey coaches agreed to play on bumpy ice to save time.
The employee faces some bumps himself if he violated the city’s zero tolerance policy for being under the influence of drugs or alcohol at work, not to mention any other legal repercussions from driving the Zamboni while impaired.
I understand the coaches wanting to move things along–but they probably opened themselves up to negligence claims if anyone had been hurt due to the rough ice.