Man pleads guilty to breaching the peace
By Shurtz, Delon on May 23, 2020.
Delon Shurtz
lethbridge herald
A Lethbridge man who decided the best way to avoid arrest was to start a fight with police, quickly learned the hard way he was wrong.
Police, who had earlier in the day on April 22 responded to a disturbance complaint by a woman at a city residence, were later asked by the woman to accompany her to the residence so she could retrieve some of her belongings. The accused, William Edward Holmes, was not expected to be at the residence, but he was.
While the woman began retrieving some of her belongings, the officer who escorted her learned Holmes should be arrested, but Holmes had “no desire to be arrested,” Crown prosecutor Clayton Giles said during a hearing Thursday in Lethbridge provincial court.
The officer informed Holmes he was under arrest, then called for backup because the man was unco-operative. When he began moving toward the officer, the officer pulled out his Taser and ordered Holmes to get on the ground. Instead, Holmes ran at the officer, who Tased him squarely in the torso.
Even after he was Tased he continued to struggle with the officers as they attempted to arrest him, but he was finally handcuffed.
Holmes was charged with uttering threats to cause death, assault and resisting a peace officer, but during Thursday’s hearing the threats charge was amended to a charge of breaching the peace, to which Holmes pleaded guilty. He also pleaded guilty to the charge of resisting arrest, while the remaining charges were withdrawn.
He was sentenced to 30 days in jail and placed on a peace bond for 12 months, during which he must keep the peace and not have any contact with the woman who was the complainant relating to the initial disturbance.
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14-13
another sentence lacking as a deterrent, does not protect the public, and is a further disgrace to the arresting officer and to policing in general.