Canada

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Conservative MP Peter Goldring stands during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on November 21, 2011. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

An officer who arrested an Alberta MP suspected of drunk driving says the politician tried to, quote, "negotiate his way out of it" after he was pulled over last December.

Cst. Trevor Shelrud also told a court hearing in Edmonton that Peter Goldring was belligerent.

Goldring, who represents Edmonton East, is accused of not providing a breathalyzer sample after being stopped on his way home from a riding Christmas party last December.

Shelrud said he saw an SUV pulling out of a bar's parking lot on the night in question and decided to stop it.

He said Goldring identified himself as an MP, so the officer went back to his car to do checks and call his supervisor.

Goldring was ejected from the Conservative caucus after he was charged, but is still sitting in Parliament.

He has been the riding's MP since he was elected under the Reform banner in 1997.