Man charged after alleged axe attack

A man is facing an assault charge after allegedly threatening police officers with an axe.

The incident happened shortly after midnight on July 7. The accused had been in the lobby of the New Westminster Police Department since about 10:30 p.m. the previous day and had set up in a corner under the reports phone. (The phone people can use to report a crime.)

Thinking the man needed a place to sleep, police tried to find him a space at a local shelter but weren’t successful.

“At that point, we basically told him to pack up and move along,” police spokesperson Staff Sgt. Andrew Perry told the Record.

When officers returned a short while later, the man was still there. They again asked him to leave and as he was gathering his stuff, he pulled out a small axe. Officers pulled out their conductive energy weapons (commonly known as a Taser) in response.

“They just had to display their weapons, and that was it,” Perry said, adding at that point the man lowered the axe and placed it on a bench nearby.

The man was taken into custody with no further incidents.

“It’s not uncommon to have individuals come to the police station and want to spend time here. We try to be accommodating the best that we can,” Perry said.

This is especially common in the winter, when extreme weather warnings are issued, Perry said.

Folks will come in looking for shelter and are typically sent to one of the city’s emergency shelters. Only in rare circumstances are people offered a place to stay in the city cells, he added.

Sometimes people cause problems hoping to be arrested and given a place to sleep for the night.

“We don’t know whether or not if he did this in an effort to potentially have shelter,” Perry said. “I’ve encountered, myself, in the past, where individuals who have basically done offences so that they would go to jail so that they’d have somewhere to stay.”

Patrick Tremblay, 42, has been charged with one count of assaulting a peace officer. He remains in custody at this time and is scheduled to appear in court July 17.