by Tony Ricciuto
The Review, April 1998
ST. CATHARINES - The long arm of the law has caught up a Niagara Regional Police officer who was wanted by police in Hamilton for an alleged road rage attack on a bicycle courier last month. Const. Meichland (Mitch) Blackburn, 34, of Rockwood Avenue, St. Catharines, was arrested at his residence Saturday on an outstanding warrant. Detectives and uniform officers from 11 Division in St. Catharines had better luck this weekend in tracking down their colleague. Police officers tried to make the arrest last weekend but Blackburn wasn't home. And, he wasn't at work this past week. Det. Sgt. Greg Sartor told the Review Sunday night that Blackburn had been out of the country. He was apparently in Jamaica. He had left the country on the Friday and returned home this past Friday.
Blackburn is charged with assault with a weapon, assault, threatening death, and dangerous driving. Police say an incident occurred last March 10 in downtown Hamilton which involved an off-duty bicycle courier. The courier filed a complaint with the Hamilton-Wentworth Police in which it's alleged that a motorist kicked, punched, and struck him with his own bicycle during a dispute. Staff-Sgt. Paul Morrison from the Hamilton Wentworth Regional Police Service said Blackburn was escorted to Hamilton, processed, and was later released from custody. Blackburn is also awaiting trial on another dangerous driving charge which was laid by the Ontario Provincial Police in the Cobourg area last October. And, he is also awaiting a police discipline hearing over another incident which occurred while he was off-duty last June. The OPP stopped him on Highway 401 in the Chatham area while travelling at a very high rate of speed. Blackburn, a black constable, returned to work with the NRP last year after winning a seven-year race discrimination battle with the service. Recently, he had been assigned to a desk job.
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