Man gets 10 months for hammer and hatchet-wielding incident

A Medicine Hat man received a 10-month sentence for a string of violent acts — including trying to get people to fight with him while he held a hammer and hatchet, and yelled racial slurs.

Chase Peters Gehring, 22, entered guilty pleas Wednesday to charges of possessing a weapon dangerous to the public, causing a disturbance, assault with a weapon and breaching his release conditions.

According to the agreed statement of facts read into court, Medicine Hat police responded on July 23 to a complaint of a man trying to fight people in a South Ridge residential area.

Prior to the arrival of police, the accused approached a group of three black people outside their family residence, asking them to fight. They all refused to do so. The accused appeared to be intoxicated.

At one point, Gehring tried to hug and kiss one of the men, who pushed him away and told him he was too much in his personal space. One of the men escorted Gehring away from the residence.

The group was walking to the car when Gehring returned — this time with a hammer and hatchet — once again demanding that they fight him. They again refused, at which point Gehring began to yell “white pride” at them, racial slurs, all while demanding they fight with him. They did not, and instead walked away from him and called police.

Gehring was arrested and then released from custody.

The next day, a man on his smoke break called police after he observed Gehring punching and grabbing a woman outside a local motel.

Gehring took off on his bike but police caught up with him — at which point he threw a knife to the ground. The victim, who knew Gehring, told police he had pulled a knife and held it toward her stomach. Fortunately, she did not appear to have significant injuries.

Gehring has a substantial record that includes convictions for weapons and violence,

Crown requested a sentence in the range of 10 months, while defence counsel requested a sentence in the area of six.

There’s “not a lot of positive things” that can be said about Gehring’s record or the incidents, said duty counsel Ian Baird, who emphasized how Gehring was quite intoxicated at the time, and the root of the man’s problems come from things in the past he hasn’t dealt with.

The sentence might be a blessing in disguise, Baird said, as Gehring wants to continue upgrading his education while in jail so he can pursue a career goal.

But Judge Ted Fisher agreed with prosecution on the sentence of 10 months, although granting 45 days credit for time served.