ERT called to subdue woman distraught over dog’s death

  • May. 17, 2011 5:00 a.m.

Apparently distraught over the death of her dog, a woman snapped, triggering a police response which included the Lower Mainland’s Emergency Response Team.

Cpl. Holly Marks, who speaks for Langley RCMP, said that the incident occurred on May 6 at the Langley Animal Clinic, 5758 203 St. Police were advised that the woman was “going crazy” because her dog died.

The woman, a 25-year-old of no fixed address, used a crow bar to smash the door of the clinic. 

When police arrived, the woman walked around a pickup truck and threw an object, later determined to be a cigarette lighter, at a police officer.

She was also wielding a large screwdriver and a ‘multi-tool’ in one hand, and a canister of pepper spray in the other.

When the woman was ordered to drop the items, she refused. She climbed onto the hood of the police car and began yelling at the officer. 

When the officer repeated the order to drop the items in her hands, she complied, placing them at her feet on the hood of the car.

When she was told to get off the cruiser, she refused. 

Marks said that when two officers from the ERT moved towards the woman, she jumped off the vehicle and ran. She was captured after a very short foot chase, arrested and handcuffed, all the while resisting, kicking and thrashing on the ground. 

Marks said that it in an apparent attempt to injure herself, the woman began smashing her head into the pavement and grinding her face against the asphalt. 

She then bit the hand of one of the arresting officers.

After being treated at hospital, the woman was taken into police custody. She has been charged with one count of assaulting a police officer, and faces a second count of assaulting a police officer. 

She had been charged with common assault on Jan. 13.

Langley Times