One man is facing charges after an alleged robbery and assault in West Vancouver Tuesday night.
The incident started with a purse snatching at Park Royal around 9 p.m. on Feb. 16, according to police.
“It was a bit brazen,” said Const. Kevin Goodmurphy, spokesman for the West Vancouver Police Department. “Personal items were stolen from a vehicle when somebody was actually inside the vehicle itself.”
While police were responding, the driver of a Blue Bus headed for Ambleside reported a disturbance on the bus and called for a supervisor who met them at Marine Drive and 17th Street.
The transit official confronted the suspect and asked him to leave the bus, to which the suspect responded by demanding he hand over all his personal valuables.
“When the supervisor refused, he punched him in the face,” Goodmurphy said.
There, officers arrested the 26-year-old Vancouver man but not before he shoved one of them, Goodmurphy added.
As a precaution, they took the suspect to Lions Gate Hospital where he continued to be verbally aggressive with officers, Goodmurphy said.
“It was somebody who was not of right mind due to drug consumption and likely some mental illness, but their behaviour was pretty violent,” he said.
The suspect was later returned to West Vancouver police custody pending a bail hearing. Goodmurphy said investigators will recommend the Crown lay charges of assaulting an officer, robbery, theft and possession of stolen property.
No one was seriously injured.
