Man pleads guilty after unleashing aggressive dog, threatening to kill police

One of the targets jumped on the hood of his car to avoid the dog, resembling a grey pitbull.

Several people at the beach came to the aid of the two men as Janzen left the area.

About 20 minutes later Janzen returned and he was found by police near the 7-Eleven and told he was under arrest.

Janzen then sprinted across the road to the beach, running north a short distance into bushes of a waterfront property on Hammond Bay Rd.

Multiple police were on scene with flashlights shone into the bushes, illuminating the dog.

Janzen was told to to show his hands.

He let his dog go and it charged toward three officers.

“The dog stopped short of the officers growling and baring its teeth. Cst. Roberts unholstered his sidearm in self defence and told the male to call his dog back or it would be shot,” Kulla said.

Janzen ran forward, grabbed the leash and hid back behind the bushes with his dog. He was again told he was under arrest with Janzen declaring he was not.

Three officers then corralled the suspect and dog with Janzen remaining defiant during what had escalated into a high risk situation at gunpoint.

Police received a report Janzen may have been armed with a taser, which turned out to be false.

Janzen was struck in the kidney and police managed to apply handcuffs as the dog ran off.

“Mr. Janzen was highly animated, screaming and yelling,” Kulla said. “He was threatening to kill officers, threatening to sue officers. It was very difficult to escort him back to the road.”

Janzen continued his ornery display toward police at RCMP cells where he was read his rights. He again responded by threatening to kill police.

Alcohol was found on Janzen and he was out past his curfew, both breaches of court orders applied three months earlier.

His lawyer Adi Glouberman said her client takes complete responsibility for his actions and that he doesn’t clearly recall what happened as he was intoxicated.

“He’s humiliated by those decisions. This is not his normal behaviour. He correctly identifies that alcohol animated his behaviour that day,” Glouberman said.

She said after 17 days in jail Janzen went directly to a residential treatment facility in Vancouver for a two months stay.

Janzen then moved back to Nanaimo, gaining steady employment in construction.

Glouberman said Janzen has had no breaches while on strict bail conditions since last summer, while he continues taking advantage of rehabilitative programming.

Provincial court judge Brian Harvey said Janzen is fortunate the dog didn’t hurt anybody.

“You should consider yourself extremely fortunate with respect to the sentence that’s been crafted. If it were not for the steps that you have taken to rehabilitate yourself this court may very well have taken a different view.”

The Crown elected not to pursue further jail time as a result of Janzen’s positive post-offence conduct.

He was convicted of assault, assault with a weapon, obstructing a peace officer and two court ordered breaches for the night in question.

Join the conversation. Submit your letter to NanaimoNewsNOW and be included on The Water Cooler, our letters to the editor feature.

ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes

by Ian Holmes

Man pleads guilty after unleashing aggressive dog, threatening to kill police

More Local News