In an unusual turn of events, a man who was arrested for allegedly stealing items and assaulting several people turned around and thanked the VicPD officer who took him into custody.
At around 7:30 p.m. on Monday night, police were called to a store in the 2600-block of Quadra Street to attend reports of a man stealing items from the business.
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When a loss prevention officer tried to stop the suspect, he allegedly began fighting them and continued to struggle with the store manager and passersby who tried to restrain him.
While police was on route, another passerby told the 911 dispatcher that the suspect claimed to have a weapon and had threatened to stab those restraining him.
Due to this message, several officers were dispatched to the site. When the first officer arrived, the suspect began to fight them as well.
No injuries
After a brief struggle, police were able to take him into custody and fortunately no one was injured in the altercation.
However once the suspect was in custody, police say he thanked the officer who arrested him, remarking that he had been “in the midst of days-long period of drug use and had been unable to successfully access detox and other social supports”.
The man is known to VicPD through previous interactions and told the officer that he knew he’d have access to supports while in custody.
He was then transported to cells where he was held for morning court and connection to support services.
Police are recommending charges of theft, robbery, assault and resisting arrest.
