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Having already found an eight-inch butcher’s knife in the car, two Sarnia police officers were concerned when a man they were struggling to arrest during a late-September traffic stop kept reaching for his waistband.
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So one of them hit Frank Lee with a stun gun – but that still didn’t end the struggle – so he was zapped a second time.
“As the Taser was deployed (again), Lee continued to struggle with the officers,” assistant federal prosecutor Brian Higgins said Friday during a sentencing hearing in a Sarnia courtroom. “However, they were able to eventually handcuff him after a four-minute struggle.”
With the 51-year-old Quebec resident finally subdued, the officers found out what was stashed in his waistband: 4.5 grams of purple fentanyl powder in a glass smoking pipe. The “severe” drug was worth about $ 2,250, Higgins said.
Lee was initially charged with drug trafficking, but that was reduced to simple possession Friday as he pleaded guilty to three charges linked to the incident.
Higgins told Justice Krista Lynn Leszczynski it was a “significant” amount of fentanyl for personal possession but did still fall within that range. He also pointed out the opioid was stored in a pipe.
“As a result, a plea to simple possession was appropriate in the circumstances,” he said.
Leszczynski didn’t dispute the argument and agreed to sentence him to four months in jail as both sides suggested.
Defense lawyer Glen Orr said his client has “unfortunately” become involved with drugs over the years and has run into trouble with police on “many” occasions.
“It is to be hoped that he can get his life together and get on with life outside of the jail setting,” he said.
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Higgins added the man’s criminal record is “rather aggravating.”
Lee, who declined a chance to address the court over Zoom from the Sarnia Jail, has been in the facility since his Sept. 21 arrest.
The incident started around 1:30 pm that Tuesday when officers saw a local man who is “heavily” active in the city’s drug subculture driving a silver BMW with Quebec license plates and an obscured vehicle identification number. The driver and Lee, who was in the passenger’s seat, were both arrested after officers noticed the large knife.
Weather factored into the initial struggle with Lee.
“At that time, it was raining and Lee was very slippery to hold onto as officers grappled with him attempting to get him under control,” Higgins said.
Lee had nine days left to serve after getting credit for time already spent behind bars.