A MAN who was jailed on Thursday for assaulting at least three police officers was the most erratic person one officer had encountered in his career.
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The officer said in a statement he had never seen a person “lash out so violently and as randomly” as Jason Thomas Uren did in the early hours of Saturday February 16.
The officers involved suspected the 32-year-old had taken amphetamines as well as drinking alcohol at the time of the offence.
Mason Manwaring represented Uren in Orange Local Court on Thursday and argued his client should not be given a full-time jail sentence because his brother, Garry Uren, who had also assaulted police at the same time, had not been sent to jail.
Both men were already on a suspended jail sentence at the time, but the brother had pleaded guilty to the offence and Jason Thomas Uren had not.
Uren was serving a suspended sentence for grooming a child under the age of 14 for unlawful sex when he attacked police in the laneway at the back of the Hotel Canobolas.
The magistrate, Terry Lucas, took hours to deliver a sentence but ultimately said there could be no option other than jail.
“A [suspended jail sentence] can only not be called up if it’s trivial. This is not trivial,” he said.
Uren punched an officer in the chest, lunged at another, kicked out to avoid arrest and was so violent he had to be apprehended by five officers.
He then attacked another officer once his handcuffs were removed at the station.
Uren attempted to rescue his brother from officers who had arrested him for urinating in public.
Officers had given both men ample opportunities to move along before the arrest was made, but the men chose to abuse and threaten officers, police statements said.
About two hours after the arrest, at 4.30am, Uren’s temper flared and he became violent again while demanding officers give him a drink.
He was sentenced to 18 months in prison with nine months non-parole, however, he appealed the severity of the sentence and will be on bail until his case is heard in the District Court in August.