Man sentenced for obstruction

By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on May 26, 2022.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

Using a child to shield himself from police has earned a Lethbridge man a short stint behind bars.
Andrew Mills was sentenced to 45 days in jail after he pleaded guilty Wednesday in Lethbridge provincial court to one count of.
Mills was one of several people who were causing a loud disturbance at an apartment building in Lethbridge just before midnight on June 23, 2019. When a police officer arrived he could hear loud screaming and yelling, particularly from a woman, coming from a suite in the apartment building.
Police made contact with the woman, Twyla Devine, who was inside the suite with several other people, including young children. Police determined Mills and the woman were doing most of the yelling and screaming.
After the arrival of police, the people in the apartment directed their anger and yelling at the officer, and Mills, who was highly intoxicated, became aggressive, prompting the officer to call for backup.
In the meantime, the lone officer attempted to deal with the several individuals, including Mills, who refused to calm down and continued to be aggressive. Devine also yelled at the officer and caused a number of other residents of the apartment building to come out of their suites to investigate the disturbance.
When the officer attempted to arrest Devine, Mills became even more aggressive and intervened, prompting police to focus their attention on him.
“Obviously he was more of a danger to the police officer than Miss Divine was,” Crown Prosecutor Bruce Ainscough said.
Additional police officers arrived and Mills retreated into the suite where he tried to avoid arrest by shielding himself with a child.
“He grabbed a small, one-year-old child from the arms of another eight-year-old child that was in the residence, and basically held this child in front of him so that the police could not arrest him,” Ainscough said.
He said it took a considerable amount of negotiation to convince Mills to hand the child to Devine, who by that time had calmed down and was co-operating with police.
Lethbridge lawyer Miranda Hlady, who jointly recommended with the Crown for a 45-day jail sentence, said Mills has made “significant strides” in his life since the incident and is currently completing a social work degree, which he hopes will help him give back to the community and help families with children learn from his experiences and mistakes.
Hlady said Mills has struggled with substance abuse and addiction and he does not get along with police, especially when he feels they should not interfere in his life. On the night of the incident Mills believed the police behaved inappropriately and caused distress among the residents and children of the apartment.
“Unfortunately many of the situations with the police have resulted in some escalation of behavour, and he does understand that there is an onus on him to change the way in which he deals with the police and how he responds to questioning,” Hlady said.
Mills was given credit for time he has already spent in remand custody waiting to deal with his charge, which completes his sentence. Two additional charges of assault and unlawful confinement were withdrawn.

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