Man sentenced to time served for assaulting officer

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This article was published 20/10/2023 (1071 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man who used his fingers to gouge at the eyes of a Brandon police officer during his arrest received a seven-month time-served sentence in court Thursday morning.

Jessie Hubbard pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer after an altercation with BPS Const. Shawn Haggarty on a night in June. The Crown and defence differed in their recommended sentence for Hubbard. The Crown asked for nine to twelve months behind bars, while defence asked for time served.

Crown attorney Yaso Mathu read the evidence for the charges in court.

Close to 1 a.m. on June 24, Const. Haggarty was sitting in an unmarked cruiser, with no lights, in the 500 block of 15th Street. He was wearing a police vest, Mathu said, with the word “police” across the chest.

The constable was watching a house in the area that was allegedly known as a drug house to police, and the constable was observing multiple vehicles coming to and leaving from the house.

Haggarty walked up to one vehicle and Hubbard got out of the passenger seat. Haggarty recognized the man, as he was apparently known to police, and knew Hubbard was bound by a court-ordered curfew.

When Haggarty tried make an arrest for breaching the curfew, Hubbard became agitated, and a scuffle ensued between the two, which included Hubbard grabbing Haggarty’s radio, making it difficult for him to call for back-up. At one point during the fracas, Hubbard used his fingers to gouge Haggarty’s eyes twice, before Haggerty was able to arrest him.

At the time, Hubbard appeared to be under the influence of a drug. After his arrest he was found in possession of a small gold knife and two small baggies containing fentanyl and meth.

Mathu said that Haggarty suffered burning, swelling, and bruising because of the incident.

“Our submission, Your Honour, is that these are very serious offences against a police officer. We know the police already have a hard job,” the Crown attorney said. “And the fact that Mr. Hubbard was possibly high on drugs doesn’t excuse his behaviour.”

Hubbard’s defence lawyer, Tony Kavanagh, told the court that though his client does take responsibility for the incident, he said that when he was first approached by Haggarty, he didn’t recognize him as a police officer as it was dark outside.

Kavanagh said that his client said that Haggarty “roughed him up” that night and grabbed him while telling him he was under arrest.

The defence lawyer said Hubbard was high that night and has made attempts to get help for his meth addiction. He is on the waitlist for a bed at the Behavioural Health Foundation in Winnipeg and has secured a bed at Aurora Recovery Centre in Gimli.

Hubbard, who appeared in court by video from Brandon Correctional Centre, said that he wanted to better himself.

Judge Patrick Sullivan emphasized the seriousness of assaulting a police officer, but accepted that much of Hubbard’s offending was linked to his addiction to meth. Ultimately, he sentenced Hubbard to seven months of jail time that Hubbard has already served, which would also allow him to get treatment if he successfully obtains release on his pending charges.

“There’s probably no better outcome for you or society, than you getting a handle on your addiction,” Sullivan said. “Because regardless of the sentence I impose, at the end of the day, if you’re released and you’re not addressing that addiction [and] you come out with an active addiction, I think we can expect that we’ll find you back in custody.”

The judge also sentenced Hubbard to an 18-month term of supervised probation.

Hubbard will next appear in court on Oct. 23 on his other matters.

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