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Parolee who attacked police to learn his fate Monday

Sentencing will be held on Monday for a Red Deer parolee who caused roughly $250,000 damage while trying to escape arrest earlier this year.

Sentencing will be held on Monday for a Red Deer parolee who caused roughly $250,000 damage while trying to escape arrest earlier this year.

Richard Allan Parkhurst, 49, was arrested after a violent confrontation with police at the Tervita metal recycling shop in Red Deer’s Edgar Industrial subdivision on Feb. 1.

Represented by defence counsel John MacNaughton, Parkhurst pleaded guilty on Friday to 12 of 17 charges laid after he tried to sell a collection of scrap metal, including copper wire, 100 metal street signs and five truck rims.

Crown prosecutor Robin Snider said Parkhurst had come to the shop with metal items for sale on previous occasions, raising suspicions of staff who alerted police when he showed up on Feb. 1.

Wanted on a number of local and Canada-wide warrants, Parkhurst was inside the shop, unloading items from a one-ton pickup truck, when members of the Red Deer City RCMP arrived at the scene.

A senior officer jumped into the passenger side of the truck, intending to shut it off and take the keys, when he saw that the ignition lock had been knocked out.

Parkhurst rammed the truck through the overhead doors of the shop and drove into the yard, all the while assaulting the police officer who was still in the truck with him, said Snider. Out in the yard, Parkhurst struck three police cars in his bid to escape, injuring another police officer in the process.

One police officer was taken to hospital with injuries and two vehicles were totalled, including the pickup truck and one of the three police cars.

Judge Gordon Yake will hear further details on Monday, when he is to hear sentence submissions on charges of uttering threats to kill or injure two police officers, assaulting a police officer, dangerous driving causing bodily harm to a officer, wilful damage to the building and to three police cars, possession of a stolen pickup truck, possession of stolen street signs, possession of other stolen metals, being unlawfully at large on a prison sentence and driving while disqualified.

Court heard that Parkhurst already has eight previous convictions for driving while disqualified.

In a plea negotiation worked out with MacNaughton on Friday, Snider said she would withdraw the remaining charges upon the court’s formal acceptance of the guilty pleas. Those charges including one count each of attempted murder of a police officer, assaulting a police officer with a vehicle, possession of stolen property, resisting police and assault causing bodily harm.

Parkhurst remains in custody.