Ottawa councillor pleads not guilty to impaired driving charges as trial begins

Coun. Matthew Luloff pleaded not guilty to impaired driving as his trial began. As CTV’s Dylan Dyson reports, the first witness testified why she called 9-1-1.

An Ottawa councillor pleaded not guilty to impaired driving charges, as his trial got underway at the Ottawa Courthouse Monday morning.

Coun. Matthew Luloff was charged on July 6, 2024 with one count of operating a vehicle while impaired and one count of having blood alcohol content above 80 mg per 100 ml of blood two hours after ceasing to operate a vehicle.

Luloff entered a plea of not guilty just after 10 a.m. as the trial began.

The court heard from two witnesses Monday — a driver who encountered Luloff’s vehicle as it was driving “erratically,” and one of the arresting Ottawa police officers.

The first witness, Marie Fedorchuk, testified that she saw a dark-coloured Jeep that was later confirmed to be owned by Luloff, “swerving all over the road, hitting the curb like a bumper car,” and flying over speed bumps.

Fedorchuk says as she was driving to Orléans the night of July 5, 2024, just before midnight, she was nearly hit by the Jeep.

“It was terrifying, the way he was driving,” Fedorchuk testified. “I could have been dead or paralyzed. His driving scared me.”

Fedorchuk says she then followed the Jeep to a Wendy’s location in Orléans where the vehicle pulled into the drive-thru, before proceeding to park in the parking lot.

Fedorchuk says that’s when she called police.

She says she followed Luloff’s Jeep to his driveway, where it pulled in, but she did not see it turn off or see anyone get out of the vehicle. Fedorchuk says she then left to go meet police at the previously mentioned Wendy’s.

The second witness, Const. Omar Vanwelzenis, testified that when he arrived at Luloff’s home with another officer in a separate cruiser, Luloff was standing outside the Jeep with the door open.

Vanwelzenis noted that he saw the rear lights of the car flash once.

The officer says he and his partner approached Luloff, who told them he had been at Bluesfest that night.

Vanwelzenis said that he could smell a “strong odour” of alcohol on Luloff’s breath and that the hood of the Jeep felt warm, giving him suspicion to administer a breathalyzer test, which Luloff failed. Luloff was then arrested and put in handcuffs.

The charges against Luloff have not been proven in court.

It is expected that the other Ottawa Police Service constable who attended the scene, as well as an Ottawa police breath technician, will also testify in the case.

An application by Luloff’s lawyer to have the charges against Luloff stayed due to a delay was dismissed by a judge last week.

Luloff resigned his candidacy as Conservative Party of Canada candidate in the riding of Orléans four days after he was charged.

Luloff was born and raised in Ottawa’s east end. He served with the Governor General’s Foot Guards and the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry.

He has been an Ottawa councillor since 2018, including representing the riding of Orléans East-Cumberland since 2022.