A Barrie police officer was allegedly spat on and struck in the face and vest by an intoxicated man Monday night.
The incident took place at Barrie police headquarters on Fairview Road while officers were attempting to book the man following his arrest in the city’s downtown for public intoxication.
Police received the call shortly after 7 p.m. after a man entered a Dunlop Street East business and asked them to call the police.
The man had indicated it was an emergency, said Peter Leon, the department’s communications coordinator.
Once police arrived, they found a “very intoxicated male who was very unsteady on his feet and was talking in a nonsensical manner.”
The 49-year-old man, of no fixed address, was arrested under the Liquor Licence Act for being intoxicated in a public place and was taken to Barrie police headquarters, which is when he allegedly spat on and hit the officer.
“For this individual, his night went from bad to worse very quickly probably because of his intoxicated state. It’s just a disrespectful act more than anything,” Leon said, adding the man’s actions constitute an assault as per the definition in the Canadian Criminal Code. “Certainly, that is no defence for showing disrespect to a police officer who is out there responding to a call where the individual is stressing that he needs the police.”
The claimed emergency, added Leon, was never determined.
