Volunteer policing group helps Vancouver Police arrest suspect in random assault

A random stranger attack in downtown Vancouver has led to an arrest with the help of some West End Community Policing volunteers.

On Thursday, the VPD received a call from one of the two volunteers near Thurlow and Comox streets around 4 p.m. for reports of a man striking another person in the head and shoulder area.

The group’s Executive Director Aleya Trott Akey explains that while the pair was patrolling the area, they spotted someone “acting somewhat erratically in traffic.”

“So they decided to just sort of monitor the situation to ensure that he wasn’t going to be harming anyone.”

“As he was walking along, the individual ended up stopping and blocking the pathway of a passerby who was walking in the opposite direction.”

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Akey says the pair didn’t see much interaction between the passerby and the suspect, but a man assaulted the victim who was trying to walk around him.

“At which point the volunteers were across the street … so [they] shouted out and then quickly crossed the street to assist the victim and the assailant ran away,” Akey says.

While one volunteer called 9-1-1, the other supported the victim.

… @VancouverPD to the assailant. The other volunteer provided support to the victim. The assailant was arrested quickly without harming anyone else. The victim is recovering. This is why calling 911 and being a good witness is so important. Let’s look after each other! (2/2) pic.twitter.com/DPbnUkJOiu

— Aleya Trott Akey (@skinnyonsafety) January 28, 2022

Akey told CityNews it’s not often that the volunteers wearing bright yellow jackets with a logo printing they at community police are witnesses to these incidents.

“Oftentimes, people will see them and if they were going to do something, their behaviour changes because they see the volunteers. So we don’t often come across incidents like this,” she says. “But they are the volunteers do get training on how to respond to incidents when they something like this.”

The VPD says a charge of assault is being recommended against the man adding random stranger attacks happen several times a day in the downtown core.