A man who attended Orange Police Station to support a person in custody has faced Orange Local Court after his behaviour at the station led to his arrest.
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Robert Gray Edge, 45, of Icely Road, was charged with resisting arrest due to his behaviour at the station.
The incident began when he gave cigarettes to the person in custody he was there to support and then he refused to follow the police directions.
Edge initially pleaded not guilty but solicitor Mason Manwaring said he changed his plea to guilty after seeing CCTV footage of the incident.
"Mr Edge reflected on his conduct and entered a plea of guilty," Mr Manwaring said.
"He did feel that there was insufficient time time for him to leave the police station but after viewing the footage he changed his plea."
Magistrate David Day noted Edge went to a police station that was full of police officers and started to play up.
According to information presented in Orange Local Court, Edge attended the police station at 6.30pm on May 25, 2022, to act as a support person for a person in custody, who was not identified in the court documents.
Edge was explained the requirements of acting as a support person and was then able to interact with the person in custody.
However, at 7.40pm the custody manager saw Edge giving the person, who was in the dock with the door closed, three cigarettes.
The action was also captured on CCTV but Edge denied giving the cigarettes to the person in custody when he was confronted by two police officers.
However, after further discussions he admitted to giving the cigarettes and the person in custody handed over two of the cigarettes but kept the third.
Edge argued with the police that it wasn't fair that the person he was there to support wasn't allowed to smoke and while he was arguing with them the person in custody became agitated.
As the discussion was continuing Edge held out a lighter and the person in custody used it to light the cigarette.
He did feel that there was insufficient time time for him to leave the police station but after viewing the footage he changed his plea.
- Solicitor Mason Manwaring
Police then wrestled with the person in police custody and the three of them ended up on the floor while Edge recorded the scene on his mobile phone.
After wrestling with the police, the person in custody was placed back into the dock.
The police then told Edge that due to his behaviour with the cigarettes he was no longer suitable to act as a support person.
He was told to leave the custody area and was warned it would be an offence if he failed to comply.
Instead of leaving Edge yelled at the police and refused to leave or listen to the police.
After numerous attempts to get him to leave the police officers grabbed him and a wrestle ensured while Edge continued to yell about the police treatment of the person in custody.
Edge refused to put his hands behind his back and more police officers had to come to help handcuff him and formally place him under arrest.
Mr Day described Edge's behaviour at the police station as "foolish".
"There's limited antecedence, he does have some matters on his record, being a pest in the year 2000, offensive language, driving after that," he said.
Mr Day convicted Edge and sentenced him to a 12-month Community Correction Order for resisting the two police officers.
The order will require Edge to be of good behaviour and if he reoffends within the 12-month period he could be brought back to court for resentencing.
