Inmate threatened jailer before his release: report
Lloyd Thrasher told deputy warden he would kill him and 'cut off his hands' before being set free
Evan Kiyoshi French
Northern News Services
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Lloyd Thrasher, released from jail Friday after missing numerous court dates dating back four years, threatened to murder a deputy warden and "cut off his hands when he got out" four days before he was set free, according to an incident report written last week by corrections staff.
Lloyd Thrasher is pictured here while attending court in 2011. - NNSL file photo - |
The once-promising 28-year-old musician, who gained notoriety in 2010 for stabbing to death a year-and-half old Chinese pug he had stolen from a parked vehicle downtown, dropped off a copy of the report to Yellowknifer on Monday, saying he enjoys the attention he receives.
He did not dispute the veracity of the report.
Yellowknifer reported last Wednesday that territorial court judge Bernadette Schmaltz was to decide whether to release Thrasher, who has been in custody since his arrest on Oct. 19, despite facing seven counts of being unlawfully at large.
He also has charges going back to January 2012 for a pair of break-ins at two convenience stores. A warrant for his arrest was issued later that July after he failed to attend court but was not executed until his arrest in Yellowknife last fall.
When asked whether the court was aware of Thrasher's behaviour in jail prior to his release, Crown prosecutor Blair MacPherson said he couldn't comment. He did say, however, all the matters dealing with Thrasher on the court docket stem from the charges in 2012.
"What we're dealing with right now are the charges from 2012," he said. "In a general sense, if new charges are laid against an individual then the Crown can reconsider what the decision that's been made."
According to the report - dated Jan. 25 - Thrasher was "charged internally" for his threats and placed in segregation. The incident report contains statements from six staff members, stating they cuffed, shackled and searched Thrasher earlier that day before placing him in a segregated cell after he began threatening and screaming at a deputy warden in his office.
"It looked like he was going to attack him," one guard stated.
According to another account, the incident began when Thrasher started complaining about his cellmate. Thrasher - in a rage - told guards his cellmate was teasing him, and said "I want him out of my room or something bad is going to happen."
When Thrasher was told he wouldn't be given a cell of his own, he began to complain that none of the other inmates liked him.
Backup was called and Thrasher rose from a chair he was sitting in, "with aggressive body language" and swore at the deputy warden while walking toward him. Thrasher then smashed himself against the office door while screaming obscenities at him, states the report. One guard took Thrasher to the ground and a total of six staff members took part in pinning him there, including the deputy warden. It was then that Thrasher shouted "I'm going to murder you and cut off all your hands when I get out of here," according to the report.
The report doesn't state how long he spent in segregation.
Thrasher's release conditions Friday include he appear in wellness court Feb. 11, and that he abide by a curfew requiring that he spend his nights at the Salvation Army's Bailey House transitional home for men.
Thrasher has asked for his case to be diverted to the wellness court program - a judicially supervised program aimed at addressing issues that contribute to re-offending. It was first launched in the territory in the fall of 2014. MacPherson told Yellowknifer he has no objections to Thrasher's request to hear his case in wellness court.
Asked if charges will be laid against Thrasher for last week's incident, Department of Justice spokesperson Marie-Eve Duperre stated in e-mail that the department can't comment on specific cases.
She said she could not answer a follow-up question before press time asking how internal charges work at jail, and what the conditions or penalties related to it are.
Schmaltz told Thrasher before releasing him to make sure he answers the door when police come to check to see whether he is abiding by his conditions.
"And they will check," she said.
