THUNDER BAY – A Thunder Bay sentencing judge reluctantly accepted a joint submission for a local man who took a swing at a transit operator and spat on a police officer in two separate incidents.
Jacob Christopher Davenport, 22, appeared by video from the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre to plead guilty to one count of assault with a weapon, common assault and assaulting a peace officer.
Crown attorney Rob Kozak and defence counsel Robert Habjan submitted a joint sentence for Davenport who has been in custody since his arrest last month. Lawyers also proposed his sentence should be followed by two concurrent 12-month probation periods for each assault incident.
Kozak told the court that on Nov. 29, 2019, Davenport got into an argument with a bus driver over the bus fare shortly after boarding. When the bus driver demanded Davenport to exit the bus, he proceeded to take a swing at the driver and ended up knocking the transit operator’s hat off.
With respect to assaulting the police officer, Davenport attended the Thunder Bay Courthouse on Feb. 25. When he failed to remove all his belongings at the security checkpoint, he was escorted out of the courthouse by a police officer. He ended up dropping an item at the door and uttered ‘I hate you guys’ and spat in the officer’s face. The officer pursued him, and in the midst of the chase, Davenport threw his coffee at the police officer and punched him twice in the nose and mouth.
Despite the assault, the office was still able to arrest Davenport.
Justice Elaine Burton accepted the joint submission proposed for Davenport but stated for these types of offences she would have normally expected a higher sentence. Habjan also requested the courts consider the growing concerns of the COVID-19 pandemic with respect to Davenport’s sentencing.
“The way you treated the police officer was absolutely disgusting and unacceptable,” Burton said. “I don’t care what the nature of the argument was between you…so with some hesitation I am going to go along with this joint submission.”
Burton warned Davenport if he had any previous convictions of violence offences, she wouldn’t have endorsed the proposed sentence presented to her by counsel.
“Whatever is going on your temper that makes you act like that, it needs to be addressed,” she said.
Davenport is currently barred from taking public transportation in the city and was also handed a weapons prohibition.
