Ignoring orders from police just to see their reaction probably wasn’t the best option for a young man when he could have ended up with just a speeding ticket.
Arden Nielsen, 20 from Ponoka, was handed an 18-day jail sentence along with receiving more than $1,500 in fines and a 90-day licence suspension after pleading guilty to one count each of excessive speeding and failing to stop for police in Ponoka Provincial Court on Friday, Nov. 20.
Back on Nov. 3, Ponoka RCMP spotted a pickup truck on Highway 2A just north of Ponoka, clocking it at 147 kilometres per hour. Police pursued the vehicle into Ponoka, where the truck slowed down but didn’t stop - going so far as to drive around a second police cruiser with its lights on at the Highway 2A and 54 Avenue intersection.
The vehicle was finally corralled when it parked in the Tim Horton’s parking lot, but the driver refused to obey any of the police commands to exit the truck, forcing officer to conduct a takedown of the driver. When asked why he refused to stop and didn’t want to get out of the truck, Nielsen responded by stating he was bored and then he wanted to see how tough the officers were.
Prior to dishing out the sentence, the judge chastised Nielsen and indicated he certainly is in need of help.
“You are lucky you weren’t charged with flight from police. With this conduct, you shouldn’t have a licence, you are too immature and could have killed someone or yourself,” the judge stated.
“Roads are not designed for that speed and you put lives in danger by these actions. At some point, you are going to have to learn your lesson and hopefully this time you spent in jail now will help do that.”
A dispute with a roommate ended with a man spending more than a week in jail.
Chad Vanderberg, 25 of Ponoka, pleaded guilty one count of assault and was given a sentence of eight days - equaling the time he had already served behind bars.
Vanderberg was arrested on Nov. 12 following a call of a disturbance at a residence where he and his roommate had gotten into an argument over Vanderberg allegedly owing some money to the roommate.
When the roommate attempted to enter Vanderberg’s bedroom in order to take some items to pay off the debt, Vanderberg pushed, kicked and punched the man to get him out. Once the man left, Vanderberg then grabbed a vacuum and threw it at him, destroying the machine when it missed the man and hit the floor.
For his part, Vanderberg admitted he reacted badly to the situation.