A day after ramming a stolen vehicle into two police cars and fleeing the River’s Edge subdivision at high speed, the suspect was arrested and faces “a plethora” of charges, Oceanside RCMP announced Thursday morning, May 17.
An RCMP K9 unit assisted in the arrest of the man Thursday in River’s Edge, at the south end of Parksville, after calls from several residents complaining their homes and property had been disturbed.
“This suspect is a prime example of how one prolific offender can victimize and traumatize an entire community,” said Staff Sgt. Marc Pelletier, Oceanside RCMP detachment commander. “I’m proud of my officers and relieved the suspect is in our custody.”
The incident began the evening of May 16, according to a police news release, when an off-duty officer riding a bicycle home from work spotted a wanted man in a stolen vehicle in River’s Edge at 7:30 p.m. The officer alerted on-duty colleagues who arrived promptly and blocked the vehicle in.
The suspect then rammed two marked police vehicles and “fled at a high rate of speed,” according to the RCMP release. Officers elected not to pursue the speeding vehicle to ensure the safety of the public, the suspect and the police.
The vehicle was later recovered, abandoned, at the end of Kaye Road. A K9 unit attended the scene, said RCMP, but was not able to locate the suspect.
The following morning, just after 7 a.m., calls began coming in to the Oceanside RCMP detachment from residents saying their homes and property had been disturbed. One of the residents reported a man, matching the description of the suspect from the previous evening, running through his yard.
Multiple RCMP units, including a K9 unit, swiftly returned to River’s Edge to set up a perimeter and roadblock. The suspect, a lone male whose hometown was not given, was quickly located and arrested, police said.
He remained in custody Thursday and will be attending Nanaimo Provincial Court to face multiple charges.
— NEWS staff/RCMP news release
