Dear Editor,
Re: [Man with axe chases after another in Maple Ridge, mapleridgenews.com, Sept. 7]
It’s no secret that Maple Ridge’s downtown core is beginning to resemble Vancouver’s downtown eastside.
Due to decades of neglect and government inaction, the mental patients and drug addicted in our community are left to fend on their own and often with tragic results, and all of this is done in the midst of people and their children trying to get on with their daily lives.
The other day, someone captured an incident on video in which a man was giving chase after another man while menacingly wielding an axe, and running through traffic in one of the busiest intersections in town.
The person taking the video verbalizes that she’s upset, cars can be heard honking their horns, while the one guy confronts the other swinging an axe.
At some point police intervened, and they concluded that this was a “consensual act” and they wrote the matter off hoping that it would go away like many other complaints that are swept under the rug regarding these downtown predators.
Inspector Gander should acquaint himself with the Criminal Code of Canada. There are several appropriate charges that could have been laid in this instance and along with the attached video in this article, I’d say that Crown would have no problem approving and proceeding with charges, regardless if both parties were “uncooperative” with police. There were plenty of witnesses that could easily corroborate these charges, never mind the video evidence.
Causing a Disturbance by Fighting – s. 175(1) C.C.C.
Possession of a Weapon for a Dangerous Purpose – s. 88 (1) C.C.C.
Assault – s. 266 C.C.C.
Assault with a Weapon – s.267 C.C.C.
Inspector Gander needs to realize that while these two were dashing across in that very busy intersection, they were endangering others with their actions as well.
As far as giving consent for another person that they may attack you in public with an axe?
What is this Clown World? And don’t tell me this video was taken out of context. I know what I saw.
William Jost, Maple Ridge
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