Carlton Street assault suspect on probation for threatening off-duty police officer

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This article was published 22/12/2023 (652 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Just days before allegedly helping beat, bind and abandon a woman in a downtown garbage bin, Romeo Chris Miles pleaded guilty to threatening an off-duty police officer with a machete.

Miles — now wanted for robbery and forcible confinement — is among five people accused in an attack on a 27-year-old Indigenous woman, who was found restrained in sub-zero temperatures outside a Manitoba Housing apartment complex Dec. 9.

The Winnipeg Police Service has arrested and charged two people, but is still searching for Miles, 27, and another pair of suspects in the 24 Carlton St. incident.

“Those individuals continue to be pursued by police,” Const. Jason Michalyshen said Friday.

“They should not be approached, and anybody with information regarding their whereabouts basically pick up the phone and give us a call. That is, quite simply, all we are asking.”

A review of Manitoba court records shows Miles appeared Dec. 4 before Judge Mary Kate Harvie to plead guilty for uttering threats and two counts of failing to comply with a probation order.

Crown prosecutor Nicole Roch said Miles — who is intellectually impaired and lives with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder — was coerced into approaching and threatening an off-duty WPS officer with a machete.

According to an agreed statement of facts, the officer had been walking to work near the intersection of St. Mary Avenue and Donald Street around 7 a.m. Oct. 22 when he was approached by three people and attacked with bear spray. The suspects fled, but left behind a backpack full of personal belongings.

Shortly after, Miles approached the officer on a bicycle and said he “wanted his friend’s stuff,” Roch said.

“About five feet away from (the police officer), he pulled the machete out and began tapping on the handle of the weapon saying ‘Give me the stuff,’” she said, noting the machete was still encased in a sheath.

Miles fled after the officer, who recognized the man was cognitively impaired, refused to hand over the bag and told him to “beat it,” the Crown said.

“(This was) an unsophisticated attempt by Mr. Miles, who then took off when he was told to take off.”

Miles was arrested shortly after, along with another suspect. He was charged with assault against a police officer and released Oct. 25 on a promise to appear. The charge was later stayed.

During the December court appearance, Roch and defence attorney Aaron Braun jointly recommended Miles be sentenced to probation and a weapons ban for uttering threats, rather than serve time in custody.

Braun detailed a difficult childhood for Miles, who he said suffered “unbelievable tragedy in his life at a young age.”

Born in Shamattawa First Nation in northern Manitoba, Miles spent much of his childhood in foster care, with as many as 41 placements. He possesses an IQ of 44 and has extremely poor language skills, Braun said.

“It’s relevant for the court to know that because… his decision making and ability to express himself are not tools he has in the tool box,” the defence lawyer said.

Harvie ultimately agreed with the joint recommendation, sentencing Miles to a year of supervised probation and warning if the man did not stay out of trouble, he was likely to end up incarcerated.

“No knives. Knives keep getting you in trouble. Do you understand?” she said. “I don’t care what your friends say. Pick better friends.”

Miles’s criminal record includes multiple convictions for failing to comply with court orders, assaults, thefts, robbery, weapons possession, break-and-enter and thefts.

City police continue to search for Miles, 35-year-old Joey Michael Audy and Evelyn Marie McKay, 40.

Police asked anyone with information to call 911, investigators at 204-986-6245 or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-8477.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca