Lethbridge man charged after pepper spray attack

Lethbridge Police have charged a 32-year-old man with assault with a weapon after a man was pepper sprayed last Thursday morning.

On June 30, 2016 between 12:20 a.m. and 2:58 a.m. Lethbridge police responded to four different assault reports in the downtown core involving men who were sprayed in the face with pepper spray. Two of the attacks happened near the 300 block of Stafford Drive North, one near the 400 block of 5 Street South and the other in the alley along the 200 block of 1 Avenue South.

In three of the cases, the victims were confronted by a group of men they didn’t know. In the fourth case, the victim was confronted and assaulted by another man who was known to him. None of the victims was seriously injured.

In all four cases the suspects ran away before police arrived. Later in the day a suspect was identified in one of the fourth and arrested.

Barry Joel Soosay, 32, of Lethbridge, was charged with assault with a weapon and breach of probation.

Soosay was released from custody but ordered to follow a curfew, is prohibited from contacting the victim, can’t possess any weapons and is banned from the downtown core.

Police said the other three assaults remain under investigation, and there is insufficient evidence to lay additional charges at this time.

Soosay is known to Lethbridge police. In March 2015 he was arrested and charged with aggravated assault, assault, and possession of a weapon dangerous to the public peace after a 24-year-old man was slashed in the face with a knife in downtown Lethbridge.

In 2013 he was also charged with assault with a weapon, possession of a dangerous weapon, and assault causing bodily harm after a man was severely beaten with a crowbar in Lethbridge.