A North Vancouver man who successfully fought to overturn an obstruction of justice conviction connected to a jaywalking ticket in the past has been found guilty of a second obstruction charge - after arguing with police about the same issue in the same location.
Don Sipes was found guilty Friday of obstructing police officers by Judge Judith Gedye in North Vancouver provincial court for refusing to give police his name after they stopped him for jaywalking near the corner of Chesterfield and Third Avenue on Oct. 30 last year.
Sipes said he still believes he's being unfairly harassed by police, and plans to appeal the case.
In the most recent incident, two North Vancouver RCMP officers told the judge they watched Sipes step on to Chesterfield Avenue and narrowly avoid traffic before the altercation between Sipes and police began.
Sipes, who did not testify in court, disputed that his actions presented any hazard, and argued the police had no grounds to stop him for jaywalking.
Sipes successfully fought later to get the jaywalking tickets dropped.
But the judge said the validity of the officers' decision to arrest Sipes must be based on the information they had at the time.
She sentenced Sipes to six months probation and 20 hours community work service, while acquitting him of a second charge of causing a disturbance.
Outside the court, Sipes said he doesn't plan to let the case rest there.
In July of last year, he succeeded in B.C. Supreme Court in overturning a similar obstruction conviction stemming from an almost-identical incident in North Vancouver. In that case, the judge ruled Sipes wasn't guilty of a crime for refusing to give his address to police.
In 2009, the West Vancouver Police Department was also forced to pay Sipes damages after a provincial court judge ruled he had been illegally arrested as he was walking down the street in January 2006. In her decision, the judge criticized the police, saying Sipes was arrested "without any grounds at all." Sipes said he also thinks people in his neighbourhood of Lower Lonsdale are being disproportionately targeted for jaywalking as a way for police to be seen as "being active in the neighbourhood," known for its street-level drug activity.
