A man police arrested in April for trafficking in cocaine will spend the next two years in prison.
Travis Huynh pleaded guilty to a single count of possession for the purposes of trafficking, as well as one count of obstructing a police officer. The two-year sentence was on top of two months of jail time he had already served.
Huynh was the subject of a lengthy police investigation. Officers working with the local drug section, conducted surveillance on him several times earlier this year and spotted possible drug buys.
Crown prosecutor Kevin Short told the court that Huynh had a previous history with police and because of how he had reacted when last arrested, officers decided to surround his vehicle with three police cars when they made the arrest April 8.
According to Short, Huynh panicked when he was arrested, smashing his vehicle into one of the police cars in a frantic attempt to escape.
After several demands that he get out of the vehicle, an officer smashed Huynh’s window and stopped him from swallowing cocaine.
He was quickly pulled from the car and arrested after a brief struggle.
In total, police found 12 grams of cocaine on Huynh, all packaged into 24 half-gram pieces. At the time of the arrest police estimated the drugs had a street value of $1,000.
Judge Bruce Garriock imposed the two-year term recommended by both Short and Huynh’s defence lawyer.
He was also ordered to pay compensation of $1,050 for damage to the police car he backed into and his vehicle, a 2002 Acura, was seized.
