Stumble Upon

del.icio.us

Digg

Facebook

Print

Email

1 comment(s)

FREDERICTON - A man who chose to go to jail rather than pay a $100 fine for skateboarding on a Fredericton street is out of jail.

Enlarge Photo

GLEANER/STEPHEN MACGILLIVRAY PHO

Lee Breen is led by members of the sheriff’s department to a waiting vehicle to take him to jail in Saint John Wednesday. Breen was released Thursday and said jail officials told him to observe a period of house arrest until Saturday morning.

Lee Breen spent Wednesday night at the Saint John Regional Correctional Centre, but was released Thursday.

He said jail officials told him to observe a period of house arrest until Saturday morning.

The jail time and house arrest until Saturday morning would represent two-thirds of his five-day sentence. Inmates in the provincial jail system typically only serve two-thirds of their time.

Breen said Thursday he plans to be back on the street with his long board once the sentence is over.

So was it rough behind bars for one night?

"Not that bad," Breen said Thursday, though there wasn't a bed for him at the jail and he slept on a mattress on the floor.

He said he will continue fighting a city bylaw which forbids skateboards on the street, arguing it goes against Fredericton's initiatives to promote active transportation and cut down on greenhouse gases.

Bylaw S-9 prohibits anyone from using a skateboard, sled or toboggan on city streets.

The 25-year-old local businessman, who owns an eco-friendly lawn care company, said that if cyclists are allowed on the streets, skateboarders should be allowed to use them as well.

Breen said the time behind bars was worth it, because his situation has raised so much awareness about skateboarding and environmentally friendly transportation.

"I think it's great that so many people are talking about this," he said.