Man sentenced to 30 days for assaulting a peace officer
By Shurtz, Delon on February 20, 2020.
Delon Shurtz
Lethbridge Herald
Assaulting a security officer, or at least trying to, has netted a Lethbridge man a short jail sentence.
Garret Shane Williams was sentenced Wednesday in Lethbridge provincial court to 30 days in jail after pleading guilty to one count of assaulting a peace officer.
Court was told a security officer at the Chinook Regional Hospital found Williams sleeping on the hallway floor in the hospital’s psychiatric wing about 3:30 p.m. Dec. 17 of last year. The officer woke Williams, who was not a patient and claimed he was waiting for someone. When Williams couldn’t provide more information the officer told him to leave.
Williams became upset and a second security guard was summoned. While they were escorting Williams from the building he took a swing with his fist at one of the officers, but missed.
“He didn’t strike the man, but he did swing at him,” explained Crown prosecutor Bruce Ainscough.
Lethbridge lawyer Claudia Connolly said Williams was intoxicated at the time and still groggy when he was wakened by the officer. She said Williams had chosen the hallway to sleep in because it was quiet and empty.
“He struggles with serious addictions, primarily alcohol,” Connolly told the judge. “He knows he can’t swing at people.”
Although sentenced to 30 days in jail, Williams was given credit for the equivalent of 30 days spent in pre-disposition custody, effectively concluding his sentence. He remains in custody, however, on other charges, including assault, unlawful confinement, shoplifting, assault with a weapon and carrying a concealed weapon. He appears in court on those charges Friday.
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