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John Melenchuk
Threats against police
lead to probation
Betty Ann Adam, The StarPhoenix,
November 23, 2004
A volatile Saskatoon justice
activist was given a conditional discharge Monday in provincial
court after pleading guilty to uttering threats against the police
and an innocent stranger.
John Melenchuk, who may be
best known for picketing the Saskatoon police station last winter
wearing an orange balaclava and a T-shirt with the words, "Who's
policing the police?" was given a year's probation and ordered
to have no contact with the police or Wallace Ochitwa for six
months. Melenchuk must also continue counselling with a psychologist.
Judge Sheila Whelan said Melenchuk's
"potential for emotional outbursts" had led to his
threatening a civilian who didn't know him and making repeated,
persistent threats to police, which had escalated over time.
Police tolerated phone messages
that were "alarming in their intensity and description,"
until they became genuinely concerned that he might carry out
his threats, Whelan said.
However, she noted that Melenchuk
has expressed respect for some police and demonstrates a "fierce
commitment" to helping vulnerable people in the community.
Melenchuk has taken counselling
and recognizes the need to continue with it, Whelan said.
Melenchuk deserves compassion,
she said. While his method of expressing himself is unacceptable,
his fear of an individual who stabbed him several years ago and
frustration because the person has not been charged must be acknowledged,
she said.
Despite the order not to have
contact with Saskatoon police, Whelan permitted Melenchuk to
attend monthly, public police commission meetings and to speak
there if he is on the agenda. The no contact order extends to
the meetings, however, where he is not to address the police
directly.
Melenchuk pleaded guilty Oct.
26 to uttering threats to Ochitwa, 50, last Jan. 10 at a downtown
coffee shop.
Ochitwa had complained to police
that Melenchuk became agitated after he refused to sign a petition
Melenchuk presented to him, according to Crown prosecutor Perry
Polishchuk. Melenchuk later approached Ochitwa outside, where
he demanded an explanation for Ochitwa's refusal to sign.
Melenchuk opened the door of
the restaurant and called in that he had "a cop-lover here,"
and that people inside should get a good look at the man's face
because Melenchuk intended to kick it in. He then showed Ochitwa
a knife scar on his stomach and said, "Do you want some
of these?"
As Ochitwa walked away, Melenchuk
shouted after him that he knew who he was.
Police also charged Melenchuk
in connection with a series of 30 to 40 increasingly threatening
phone calls he made to the Saskatoon police station and to Sgt.
Arthur Olson, in particular.
Melenchuk was frustrated with
the police because they hadn't laid charges against the person
who stabbed him in an Oct. 31, 1998, altercation that landed
him in hospital for 11 days.
Saskatoon Police Service spokesperson
Insp. Jeff Bent said police received a complaint Nov. 3, 1998.
Police do not have enough evidence to support a charge and secure
a conviction, Bent said.
The file remains open and police
are planning to run a Crime Stoppers re-enactment on television,
Bent said.
In the phone calls, Melenchuk
directed his frustration at Olson, the lead investigator in the
assault case. Melenchuk blamed Olson for the difficulties in
his life since the stabbing.
Among the transcripts of numerous
recorded messages the Crown presented to the court were several
where Melenchuk expressed a desire to see Olson on the street
without his sidearm so he could spit in his face.
"I'm thinking about you
all the time," Melenchuk said.
Other messages included statements
such as, "I will never forgive you," "Make sure
you're wearing a bullet proof vest," "People in the
'hood know who you are," "Everybody thinks I'm crazy.
. . . I'll take a cop with me. If I have to go down, I hope it
will be you."
Olson kept the recorded messages
but didn't act on them until Sgt. Neil Wylie received a call
just after midnight on Jan. 27. Wylie stated in a report that
Melenchuk's state of mind seemed to have worsened compared with
previous interactions with him.
In that call, Melenchuk seemed
unusually calm and rational. He stated that Saskatoon police
had made him a deadbeat dad and that the only way he would get
satisfaction was by taking out a cop, that someone would pay
"the ultimate price" for his undoing and that he had
nothing to lose by taking one of them out.
Wylie was concerned that Melenchuk
was "degressing to a state that will result in a violent
confrontation."
In court Monday, Melenchuk
said: "I just want people to know I got stabbed and I got
screwed, that's all."
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2004
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