A 50-year-old is facing a single count of assault with a weapon following an altercation at the Sault Ste. Marie Golf Club that was viewed millions of times online
SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. — An injured seagull cut short an altercation between two golfers on the 16th hole of the Sault Ste. Marie Golf Club last year.
One man was injured and a second charged in connection with the September 2 incident. The incident was captured on a five-second video that went viral.
Joel Sandie, 50, pleaded not guilty to attacking another man with a weapon – a golf club – when he appeared in a local courtroom for his trial last week.
The London, Ontario native is a former junior hockey player and hails from Sault.
The video shows Sandie yelling, “I’ll fucking kill you” as he chases another player across the tee box.
Unable to catch the man, he swings his club at John Prgomet, who is standing next to an electric golf cart, hitting the man on his left arm.
Ontario Court Judge Heather Mendes heard from three Crown witnesses: two city police officers and the young golf club employee who started recording the video when she realized the confrontation was escalating.
Const. Frank Carchidi testified that he and his partner responded to a call about two men who got into an argument and “one hit the other with a golf club.”
A second caller complained she had been threatened during an altercation over a dead seagull, the officer told prosecutor Trent Wilson.
When they arrived, paramedics were treating a man with swelling to his left forearm.
It wasn’t a serious injury, but he complained it was painful and they put ice on it, the 11-year-old officer said.
Prgomet had just been hit with a golf club and was visibly upset, as was his son.
He indicated that he was not going to the hospital and that he did not want to press charges at that time, Carchidi told the court.
Prgomet “said he wanted to think about it and see if the injuries got worse.”
The officer told the court he remembered seeing a seagull about 100 yards down the fairway, near a golf cart, but he didn’t know if it was dead or alive.
He said he made no formal statements that evening.
Carchidi testified that he later received an email from Const. Troy Miller, his partner on the day of the incident, who was contacted by the complainant on September 6.
The court heard that the victim sent photos to police showing bruising and swelling on his left arm and hip. He has also indicated that he wants to pursue the charges.
Under cross-examination by defense attorney Michael Lacy, the officer admitted that the short video did not capture the lead-up to the incident, including why Sandie ran after someone with a golf club.
Carchidi also agreed that he had received different accounts from the complainant and his son, and from Sandie and his partner about what had happened.
Lacy suggested that his client and the woman were angry about the seagull, which was standing in the middle of the shipping channel near their cart.
They were in direct line of sight of someone hitting a golf ball and would be hit by a golf ball if someone did so, the Toronto lawyer questioned.
“That’s possible,” the officer replied.
Miller testified that he spoke with two employees of the golf club and viewed video that one of them had recorded.
No statements were made at the time because it had not yet been decided whether charges would be filed, the 18-year-old officer told Wilson.
He also failed to retrieve the video, but after the complainant indicated he wanted to proceed with the charges, Miller contacted the two witnesses, sent them statement forms, and obtained the video clip.
Lacy questioned why the complainant was determining whether to file charges.
The defense asked if he was a friend, to which Miller replied no and described Prgomet as someone he saw from hockey.
Brooke Whillans told the court that she and another employee received a call from the pro shop telling them to drive to the 16th hole because something was wrong.
When they arrived, she saw a seagull: “it couldn’t walk or fly, but it was alive.”
Sandie’s partner was on the ground tending to the bird.
She spoke to Sandie, who wanted the seagull removed.
Whillans said she didn’t want to touch it and spoke to her boss, who said they would sort it out the next morning.
“We had people doing it after hours,” Whillans said.
Prgomet was golfing with his son Jayce, who also worked at the club, and they appeared on the teeing ground.
The witness stated that she told the younger man what happened and suggested they go around the hole.
Sandie drove up to him, got into an argument with Jayce and began chasing him around the cart.
Jayce said he was going to play the hole because “I paid for golf and I’m going to play golf.”
He stood over the ball, swinging his club, and his father told him to just keep going, Whillans said.
Sandie grabbed a bat and “I took the video because things had escalated.”
That five-second clip was the only video she made.
Whillans said she went to John, who was groaning on the ground, and called 911.
The video was widely circulated online. “I don’t know how it got there. I didn’t post it,” she told the Crown, indicating she shared the video with two people.
During cross-examination, she agreed with the defense that Jayce was adamant that he not skip the gap, and both he and Sandie yelled and used expletives.
Sandie said his girlfriend was down there with the bird and if he hit the ball, she would get hit too.
The young man didn’t back down, he practiced hitting the ball and yelling, Lacy suggested.
Whillans agreed.
Did Sandie say “if you hit the ball I’m going to fucking kill you?” he asked.
“Yes,” she replied.
