Man sentenced for resisting arrest

By Delon Shurtz on November 21, 2020.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

A dog is supposed to be manÕs best friend, but someone forgot to tell Carl Lemke.
The 34-year-old Lethbridge man had to be apprehended by a police dog in September after he refused to surrender to police who caught him during a break-in at a northside storage locker.
Lemke had been released from custody Sept. 18, but was bound by a court-imposed undertaking that he obey a curfew and not be within one block of three storage compounds on the northside. However, when police checked to see if he was in his residence during the early morning hours of Sept. 27, Lemke was absent. Police returned to the residence the following day, but Lemke was missing again.
Knowing that Lemke is “notorious for breaking into storage lockers,” police went to a storage compound and noticed two people in the area. The officer lost sight of the individuals, but a police dog found LemkeÊshortly afterwardÊhiding inside a locker he had broken into.
Lemke refused to leave the locker and the dog was sent in to convince him otherwise. After Lemke exited the locker, he continued to struggle with police and resist arrest, even with the dog still “attached” to him. He was eventually subdued and handcuffed but continued to be unco-operative and aggressive.
Lemke pleaded guilty Thursday in Lethbridge provincial court to single charges of resisting a peace officer and shopbreaking, and two counts of failing to comply with an undertaking. He was sentenced to four and a half months in jail, consecutive to time he is currently serving on other matters.
Lethbridge lawyer Vincent Guinan told court his client had turned his life around for a time, but became addicted to methamphetamine and “slid back into his bad habits.”
Additional charges, including drug possession, possession of stolen property, carrying a concealed weapon and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, were withdrawn. However, Lemke returns to court next Thursday to address charges of possession of stolen property, possession of break-in tools, shopbreaking and failing to comply with an undertaking.

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