Mall bicycle ride costs man jail

A 43-year-old Lethbridge man was not exactly obeying the Traffic Safety Act when he rode his bike inside a city shopping mall last year.

Daniel Edward Collier was riding his bicycle in the food court of the Park Place Shopping Centre on Feb. 17 when he was approached by a community peace officer. Collier claimed he didn’t know he couldn’t ride his bike in the mall, and apologized for some bicycle equipment violations noted by the officer.

Collier was unco-operative when the officer said he was going to issue a ticket, then he became combative after the officer learned he was wanted on an outstanding warrant and tried to arrest him.

Collier told the officer he wasn’t going to jail, and began walking away.

He then pushed the officer several times when the officer grabbed his arm to make the arrest. After a brief struggle, the officer took Collier to the ground as the two exchanged blows.

"It must have made quite a spectacle," Crown Prosecutor Clayton Giles said Friday in Lethbridge provincial court, where Collier pleaded guilty to a charge of assault to resist arrest and two counts of mischief.

Giles noted that after Collier was placed into a police vehicle he continued to scream and kick the inside of the vehicle’s door. He kicked the door so hard it became bent in its frame and popped open.

Defence told court Collier, who has been in and out of jail the past year, struggles with an addiction to methamphetamine and was high at the time of the incident.

Collier was sentenced to 60 days in jail, minus five days for time he spent in custody after he was arrested.

He is still in custody on other matters, and returns to court next week to address additional charges, including assaulting a peace officer, carrying a concealed weapon and drug possession.