Guilty plea in SCS syringe incident
By Herald on March 23, 2021.
Delon Shurtz
Lethbridge Herald
dshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com
A 29-year-old man accused of spraying a security guard in the face with the contents of a syringe has pleaded guilty to a single charge of assault with a weapon.
Wade Allan Cross Child entered the plea Friday in Lethbridge provincial court, where he appeared by video link from his lawyer’s office.
Cross Child’s charge stem from an incident at the former drug supervised consumption site a year ago.
Police reported that just after 6 a.m. March 3, 2020 they responded to a report that a security guard working at the SCS in the 1000 block of 1 Avenue South had been assaulted by a client.
The guard approached a man in the waiting area who was injecting himself, but because drug use is not permitted in that area, the security guard told the man to stop and go into the supervised area. The man became upset and shot the contents of the syringe — blood and other fluids — into the security guard’s face before he was taken into custody.
The 23-year-old guard was treated at Chinook Regional Hospital and released, but required ongoing treatment afterward as a result of the exposure.
Police arrested the suspect at the SCS and seized the syringe.
Cross Child was also charged with assault causing bodily harm and aggravated assault, but the Crown said Friday those charges will likely be withdrawn in June once Cross Child accepts the fact, which are expected to be read for the record during his sentencing hearing.
In the meantime, he will be assessed for the preparation of a pre-sentence report, which will provide the lawyers and judge with his personal circumstances and background to help determine a fit sentence.
The matter has been adjourned more than two dozen times since Cross Child’s arrest, in part to allow him to complete a drug treatment program. His case was also interrupted after he was sentenced to 30 days in jail for breaching conditions of his release after the incident.
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