When Matthew Jacob Cholewa’s neighbours saw that he was in his driveway shouting while armed with a shotgun and a chainsaw last November, they called the police.
On Monday, Cholewa, 27, appeared in St. Albert Provincial Court by CCTV to plead guilty to one charge of causing a disturbance.
Cholewa was on probation back on Nov. 30, 2012, said provincial Crown prosecutor John Donahoe, and was under a court order to stay off alcohol.
RCMP officers were called to a St. Albert home that day after hearing reports of a man outside shouting threats while wielding a shotgun.
They found Cholewa standing in his driveway shouting “I will fucking kill you” to no one in particular, Donahoe said. “Here he is making threats with a gun in one hand and a chainsaw in the other.”
Police arrested Cholewa. They found that the shotgun was not loaded, but that Cholewa had drank a considerable amount of alcohol.
Excerpts from a letter from Cholewa’s psychologist read in court said that Cholewa had issues of depression and persecution, but no violent tendencies. Donahoe noted that Cholewa had previously undergone treatment for alcohol issues and had already served 11 days in jail on this matter.
Judge Bruce Garriock sentenced Cholewa to 12 months’ probation, during which he is to take treatment as directed and abstain from alcohol and illegal drugs.
An apparent fan of Sesame Street got a stiff fine last week for being drunk.
Adrian Douglas Scott, 31, pleaded guilty last March 18 to one count each of refusing to provide a breath sample and obstructing a peace officer.
Scott’s crimes happened last year in St. Albert, where, while driving a green minivan, he almost hit two cars near the Sargent Liquor Store on Boudreau Road, said provincial crown prosecutor Douglas Taylor.
RCMP spotted the van at the Mac’s Convenience Store at the intersection of Giroux Road and Deer Ridge Drive. Officers noticed a 24-pack of beer in the passenger seat and Scott nearby.
“He was wearing bright green Oscar the Grouch pyjama pants,” Taylor noted.
The two officers noticed that Scott was moving very slowly, was unsteady on his feet, had enlarged pupils and smelled of alcohol. He also did not have a driver’s licence on him.
Scott ignored several orders from the officers and attempted to open the van’s driver-side door. When a third officer arrived with a breathalyser, Scott tried to go into the store to make a phone call and became hostile when the officer tried to stop him. “He was screaming and yelling at the members,” Taylor said, and using profane language.
After his arrest, Taylor said Scott continued to refuse to provide a breath sample or obey police requests, and at one point spat on an officer.
Scott, a former welder, told the court that he “screwed up,” and that his actions were a “bad move” on his part.
Scott almost hit two cars and was extremely resistant with police, Garriock said. “This was a pattern of behaviour. It wasn’t just one incident.”
Garriock banned Scott from driving for a year and fined him $2,600.
An engineer has been banned from driving for a year after a drunken demolition derby that took him through much of St. Albert.
Basheer Contractor, 23, pleaded guilty Monday in St. Albert court to one count of driving while impaired and one count of failing to remain at the scene of an accident.
Contractor is a field service engineer who works on medical equipment.
St. Albert police got multiple 911 calls at around 7:53 a.m. last Aug. 31, 2012, said provincial Crown prosecutor Maria Caffaro, after a 1995 black Acura Integra was spotted driving on lawns and striking many garbage and compost cans along Heritage Drive. Contractor was its driver.
Contractor later backed into a truck, almost rammed a car head-on on Levasseur Road before heading onto St. Albert Trail, where he hit the curb several times. “The driver was then seen throwing an empty beer bottle box from the window.”
Contractor swerved through a significant part of the city hitting or nearly hitting a number of curbs, cars and street signs before finally being stopped by the cops. Officers recognized him, smelled alcohol on his breath, and had to help him stand up straight. A container with marijuana residue in it was also found in Contractor’s car. A later drug test determined that he was impaired.
Garriock was concerned with the obvious danger Contractor had put other drivers in. He fined him $2,300 and banned him from driving for a year.
