The Weyburn Police Service arrested a man for aggravated assault after an incident at a local establishment last Thursday night, which also resulted in another man being taken to the hospital with a severe injury.
Deputy Chief Shane St. John said the unfortunate incident all started when an intoxicated patron became rude and violent with the staff.
"[He displayed] absolutely horrible behavior towards the female [server], and then towards the male employee that tried to assist the female even, in getting this person out of the bar, due to alcohol and bad decisions, then made a horrible decision that caused him to be arrested and a severe, severe injury to the male."
The behavior resulting in a call to the WPS included being disrespectful to the server and even smashing a glass.
"They'd cut him off. They asked him to leave. He was very verbally abusive towards staff. The male worker stepped in to assist, very politely," St. John shared.
However, the violence continued as the staff member was removing the man from the premises, and as the police had not yet arrived at the scene.
"Then, unfortunately, the aggravated assault took place and the male was injured rather severely," he noted. "At least his behavior when he was arrested was polite and respectful. But before we got there, that wasn't the case."
The man was taken to cells until he was sober.
"If they're not a threat to the public when sober, you put them on conditions and released like any court would do," explained St. John. "Now, if you had a lot of conditions from the past and you're breaching probation and this is something that's been ongoing, has happened many times and you're worried about this reoccurring, then you would hold them for a judge to make that decision to release."
"This person hasn't been in trouble ever, so they were released with conditions. I'm sure they're very remorseful now, unfortunately, you make a lot better decisions sober than you do. Intoxicated. Maybe a huge wake-up call. He's a young man and you don't want to see this continue whatsoever."
He added that despite the first-time offense, the court will take into account the circumstances of the incident, given the serious injury that resulted for the staff member.