A 45-year-old man has been charged after allegedly punching a police officer in the face while he was under arrest on Sunday at the Abbotsford Flea Market.

Sgt. Judy Bird said the incident began at about 11:30 a.m. at the weekly flea market at Abbotsford Exhibition Park.

Bird said the APD has amped up patrols at the event in the past few weeks, looking for vendors who might be selling stolen goods.

She said two officers came across a man who was familiar to them, and they looked up his background, which indicated that he was required to carry court papers detailing his current bail conditions.

Bird said the man did not have those papers on him. But when the two officers tried to arrest him for breaching his conditions, a struggle ensued and one of the officers was punched in the face.

Bird said other people began to gather, and the officers called for backup. The man was pepper-sprayed and eventually arrested.

He was allegedly found to be carrying pink fentanyl and methamphetamine, Bird said.

Raymond Gilliland has now been charged with two counts of assaulting a peace officer, one count of obstructing a peace officer, and four counts of breaching his bail conditions.

At the time of his arrest, Gilliland was on bail for previous charges of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, obstructing a peace officer, two counts of breaching his probation, and five counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking.

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North Delta Reporter