Photo: CTV News

A Penticton man has been sentenced to 18 months probation and fined $2,500 for attacking a police officer in Vancouver.

Paul Benjamin Eddison, 45, was sentenced Wednesday in Vancouver for an incident in January 2018 that left a female constable with a broken leg.

He was fined $2,500 for one count of assaulting a police officer and received a conditional discharge for one count of uttering threats, plus 18 months of probation. 

B.C. Prosecution Service spokesman Dan Mclaughlin said the Crown had sought a 30-45 day jail sentence. 

Eddison was found guilty at a trial earlier this year. Const. Pamela Karellas, who is five-foot-one and 110 pounds, testified she was kicked by Eddison after he demanded a cigarette from her partner. 

Both officers were in uniform when they approached the intoxicated, 265-pound Eddison on Granville Street in the early morning hours of Jan. 15, 2018 and asked him to leave the area.

Her partner, Const. Russell Sargent, testified the man said: “Give me the f***ing cigarette or else I’ll f***ing kill you.”

Sargent stepped out of the cruiser and told the man he was under arrest. Eddison refused to comply with the officer’s order and went into a fighting stance.

Sargent took him to the ground but struggled to keep control of him. A doorman jumped into the fray to assist. It eventually took five VPD officers to arrest Eddison.

At some point in the melee, Karellas had her leg broken into a “completely unnatural angle.” Both her tibia and fibula were broken, requiring extensive medical care.

At trial, there was mixed testimony as to whether her leg was broken by a kick as she claimed or due to Eddison falling backwards onto her, as the doorman testified. Sargent said he only heard the screams of his partner after the fact, as he was busy struggling to arrest Eddison. 

Judge Gregory Rideout found Eddison guilty of assaulting Sargent and of uttering threats, but acquitted him of assaulting Karellas due to the conflicting versions of how she broke her leg.

– with files from Mike Howell, Vancouver Courier