A man who three times took on the same Glen Innes police officer after a pub brawl, and copped pepper spray before fleeing police, faced court last week.
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Tye-Ron Grifiths, 23, appeared before Glen Innes Local Court on Friday where he confessed to obstructing a police officer and behaving in an offensive manner.
Griffiths confronted the same officer on three occasions on the night of July 10 last year. First he copped pepper spray to the face after challenging police outside the pub.
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The officer was left outnumbered in a second confrontation after he stopped Griffiths from entering the bar from a second entrance. An off-duty police officer and bar staff came to the officer's aid as he drew his baton and aimed his OC spray for fear of the encounter turning violent.
"Come at me and see what happens," Griffiths said to the officer, amid a spray of abuse. "Take off that uniform and you have nothing."
The violent confrontations began after a music event at a licenced premises on July 10 in the midst of an incident court documents described as a "brawl".
About 9.30pm, Glen Innes police worked to calm down a group of patrons that had become rowdy.
Police were standing outside the bar and had arrested two people when Griffiths got involved by yelling at a group of people standing behind police.
He was seen off by OC spray, but returned for the second confrontation.
He said he wanted to get back inside the building to get his things, but he was refused entry and told to move on.
After he was seen off a second time, police heard him yell as he walked away, "I bet you were bullied in high school, take that uniform off and I'll get ya".
Later that night Griffiths and a friend fronted up at the police station. The same officer answered the door, only to receive more abuse.
As the police officer stood just inside the station's screen door, the 23-year-old slammed the door in his face. Finally the officer moved to arrest him, but Griffiths ran away, yelling "come and get me".
When he was later arrested he told police "I just want to say that officer is a sook as I just slammed the door at him", according to court documents.
In Friday's hearing, the unemployed Glen Innes man was also convicted of a count of destroying property in relation to another unrelated offence he committed earlier on the same day.
Other charges were dropped in the hearing.
Magistrate Michael Holmes sentenced the man to a two-year community corrections order and levied two $500 fines for the offences. The convictions will be recorded. He heard Griffiths had suffered a difficult upbringing including domestic violence, and took into account an early guilty plea.
