B.C. man arrested, accused of assault, robbery and ramming police car

KELOWNA, B.C. – A dramatic series of events that police say involved assault, robbery and the ramming of one of their own cruisers in Kelowna, B.C., tied up the city’s downtown core and led to the arrest of a suspect.

RCMP Const. Jesse O’Donaghey said officers received reports early Friday morning of an assault in a local alleyway, as well as a nearby robbery.

He said officers determined a suspect, who was behaving irrationally, assaulted a man who refused to turn over his car keys.

The suspect then fled on foot and stole a child’s backpack being carried by a father, he said.

“The suspect allegedly assaulted the father, a 45-year-old man, in front of his eight-year-old daughter, before fleeing the second scene in a grey Ford sedan,” said O’Donaghey.

An officer’s car was hit by a fleeing vehicle while he was responding to the crimes.

O’Donaghey said witnesses reported the suspect vehicle appeared to accelerate before the impact.

The suspect got out of the vehicle after the crash and attempted to assault the officer through the open driver’s side window of the police vehicle, he said.

Nearby construction workers jumped into action to assist the officer who was still stunned from the impact of the collision, said O’Donaghey.

“They aided the officer in controlling the suspect who was subsequently then taken into police custody.”

O’Donaghey said the suspect and officer sustained injuries and were taken to hospital as a precaution, and the officer was released.

O’Donaghey said a 42-year-old man from Chase, B.C., is in police custody and under investigation and could face charges of assault, robbery, aggravated assault, assault of a police officer and resisting arrest. (Kelowna Daily Courier)