Image Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
February 08, 2014 - 11:26 AM
"WEIRD TWITCH-LIKE MOVEMENTS"
TORONTO - There's a media report that Toronto Mayor Rob Ford was "talking gibberish" and appeared impaired at a Vancouver-area pub last weekend, just hours after he received a ticket for jaywalking.
The Toronto Star quotes an unidentified witness as saying Ford went into the tiny staff washroom at the Foggy Dew pub in Coquitlam and emerged more than an hour later.
The witness told the newspaper that it took some time before Ford was able to speak to restaurant staff coherently and says he ordered rounds of beers, rum-and-cokes and shots with three people.
The Star said it was unable to independently verify the source's allegations that Ford consumed alcohol at the Foggy Dew, and said the pub didn't responded to questions about Ford's conduct or about allegedly serving alcohol after hours.
Ford — who had vowed last year that he had given up alcohol — admitted he was drinking in an incident caught on video last month at a restaurant called Steak Queen and called it a "minor setback."
The clip posted anonymously to YouTube shows Ford using Jamaican swear words and other profanities, at one point aiming his curses at Toronto's police chief.
The Star said it asked Ford this week about his behaviour at the Foggy Dew, after it was closed for the evening, but said Ford has not responded to the questions.
Ford's spokesman has not responded to emails from The Canadian Press requesting comment on the report in the Toronto Star.
The Star said the alleged incident took place in the wee hours of Feb. 1, between midnight and 3 a.m. — hours after Ford was ticketed by the RCMP for jaywalking.
The Star report says Ford went into a single-toilet bathroom used by male staff and did not emerge for more than an hour.
When Ford emerged shortly after 2 a.m., he was "talking gibberish in what sounded like another language," scratching his chest and the back of his neck and making "weird twitch-like movements non-stop with his hands," the Star quotes the eyewitness as saying.
The newspaper said the source did not want to be identified fearing there could be consequences for speaking out.
A few hours before the alleged incident at the Foggy Dew, Ford had been ticketed for jaywalking and has said he believes police singled him out when they gave him the ticket.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2014