The Yukon RCMP rang in the new year by responding to 144 calls across the territory.

Officers laid 11 impaired driving charges and responded to 11 assaults on New Year’s Eve, police said today.

Fights broke out in several locations, including the Lizards nightclub in Whitehorse and homes in Watson Lake, Haines Junction and Whitehorse.

In one home on the North Klondike Highway near Whitehorse, an intoxicated man had allegedly assaulted and threatened to kill the man who had tried to calm the situation, RCMP reported.

“The 37-year-old male was taken to the Arrest Processing Unit in the Whitehorse Correctional Centre, where he (allegedly) violently attacked and attempted to choke out a correctional officer who was facilitating the suspect’s call to a lawyer,” police said.

The man who had been arrested, James Fraser, appeared in territorial court on 11 Criminal Code charges. They are:

• causing a disturbance;

• assault;

• uttering threats;

• resisting a peace officer;

• assaulting a peace officer to resist arrest;

• possession of cannabis;

• possession of a weapon (folding knives) for a dangerous purpose;

• carrying a concealed weapon (folding knives);

• assaulting a peace officer;

• assaulting a peace officer causing bodily harm; and

• choking to overcome resistance to an offence.

Meanwhile, another intoxicated male was violent with a police officer after he was found walking in the middle of Fourth Avenue traffic, police said.

After being told he would be put under arrest for being intoxicated in a public place, police said, the 17-year-old began to kick and punch the police officer.

The youth has been charged with five offences, including assault to resist or prevent arrest. His name cannot be published due to his age.

In another area of the city, a taxi driver sustained a broken finger.

The 44-year-old female cabbie reported that a passenger had taken another passenger’s bottle of alcohol.

The driver wrangled with the 20-year-old male suspect in an attempt to retrieve the bottle of alcohol, and broke her finger.

“(The) suspect fled prior to police arrival and the investigation is still ongoing,” RCMP stated.

In a home in Ross River, a man allegedly threatened to shoot his spouse.

He was last seen loading a gun at their residence, police said.

The woman fled the residence with her children.

Police found the suspect and talked with him. The 33-year-old man surrendered himself and his firearm to police.

He was arrested and released on court documents.

The RCMP also reported three traffic collisions, 16 calls of mischief and 22 calls about the peace being disturbed.