A man said to be a rogue golfer was arrested at Moncton’s Victoria Park on Friday following a bizarre series of events.
Police say they had been looking for 30-year-old Michael Delahunt since Sept. 21 after receiving a complaint that he had assaulted a man at the park.
The alleged victim, Fred Leidemer, told police he had asked Delahunt to stop using the park as a driving range and that Delahunt – who he now calls Unhappy Gilmore - attacked him. His left arm is now in a cast.
“This whole situation seems to be to be approaching the theatre of the absurd,” says Leidemer. “Everybody I’ve talked to, all of my neighbours, everybody who has complained has said this is just not an appropriate activity for this particular place.”
Delahunt has posted several videos of his park practice rounds on YouTube, complete with scripted commentary and analysis of his game, prompting Leidemer to take action.
Leidemer and his lawyer, former Moncton mayor Brian Murphy, held a news conference at the park on Friday to pressure the city to prohibit golfing in parks.
However, as the news conference was getting started,Delahunt appeared and police quickly followed.
The officers handcuffed Delahunt in front of the crowd and placed him inside a police cruiser, but not before he spoke a few words to the journalists covering the event.
“I don’t feel I’ve done anything wrong to be honest with you,” said Delahunt. “I’ve never hit anyone with a golf ball. I take due care…I’ve never admitted to harming anyone.”
Police say Delahunt is facing a charge of assault causing bodily harm in connection with the alleged attack.
Meanwhile, Murphy and his client are continuing to push for change at the park. Murphy says other municipalities including Fredericton and Charlottetown have similar bylaws and Moncton already restricts certain activities in parks.
“You can’t camp overnight. You can’t throw garbage everywhere. Those are reasonable restrictions,” says Murphy.
“We’re just asking that we become a little more adept to apparent use of the parks that we, as reasonable people, might not contemplate, but other people might.”
With files from CTV Atlantic's Andy Campbell
