Judge scolds ‘drunk and annoying’ man

A 21-year-old man who attacked two police officers and two special constables during the course of his arrest should consider himself lucky he wasn’t sentenced to jail, a local judge said Tuesday.

“Every day, police officers put their lives on the line to protect your family,” Judge Ronald Watson told Ilies Kelbaz. “They don’t deserve to be the recipients of that kind of treatment. There was no reason for it other than that you were drunk and annoying.”

Kelbaz, 21, pleaded guilty in Ontario Court of Justice to four counts of assaulting a police officer.

Duty counsel and the Crown had suggested a joint submission of probation for 18 months, citing the defendant’s early guilty plea and lack of any prior record.

On May 30, shortly before 1 p.m., police were called to deal with an intoxicated man “disturbing tourists” while sitting on a bench in park near Clifton Hill.

When police approached, court heard, Kelbaz became confrontational and “extremely unco-operative.”

As he was being escorted to a police cruiser, he kicked one officer in the back of his leg in an attempt to trip him. When he was led from the cruiser to Niagara Regional Police headquarters in Niagara Falls, he kicked a second officer in the leg. Once inside the cell area, he kicked a special constable in the knee and attempted to “head butt” a second constable.

The judge advised Kelbaz to consume alcohol at home and not in a park.

“If you want to get drunk, go ahead and get drunk,” Watson said. “But, stay in your home. You have no business doing it in a public park.”