An Oak Bay Police officer received some minor injuries after breaking up a group of young people partying at the beach on Saturday night.
According to a statement from Deputy Chief Ray Bernoties, one officer attended reports of a loud party at the beach in McNeil Bay on Saturday, July 4.
When he arrived, he found a small group of teenagers drinking and smoking weed. They were all told that the party was over and advised to disperse.
“Most youths left but a few started yelling ‘Fu** the Blue’ and continued to yell and swear despite requests by our member to stop,” says Bernoties.
However one of the youths, a 16-year-old boy, was “very agitated” according to police, and kept yelling ‘Fu** the Blue’.
The officer moved to take the teen into custody, during which he resisted arrest and caused minor injuries to the officer in question. Police say the youth weighed about 230 lbs.
According to Bernoties, the officer suffered a swollen knee and abrasions to his hands.
Eventually, the officer restrained the teenager, and decided on turning him over to his mother and issued him a $115 ticket for public intoxication.
In a tweet about the incident, Oak Bay Police talked about how anti-police rhetoric has become more common in recent weeks.
https://twitter.com/OakBayPolice/status/1279883046343200768
“There are some important conversations occurring regarding Police accountability. Unfortunately, however, there is also a great deal of inflammatory and inaccurate messaging that can create unnecessary conflict,” said Bernoties in an email to Victoria Buzz.
“We work in a very supportive community so these types of incidents are fortunately still uncommon.”
During the incident, the officer had to request urgent backup from other members of his detachment, Victoria Police and Saanich Police—something that, according to Oak Bay Police, the officer has never done before during his 24-year-long career.
“He asked the youth afterward ‘Was I disrespectful in any way?’,” reads a Twitter update from Oak Bay Police.
“He just looked down [and] was silent.”
