A report of a man acting erratically on the Dudley Little Bridge in Terrace ended with a police officer being punched and a man taken into custody.
Around 9:20 a.m., Terrace RCMP received a report of a man acting bizarre and appearing to be fighting invisible people. Police located the man walking toward Thornhill and observed him to be dancing around, shadow boxing, and yelling aggressively at passing vehicles. As a police officer approached him, he punched the officer in the face, leading to a struggle between the two, which ended shortly after backup arrived.
Thanks to the quick action of the responding officers the man was prevented from directing his assaultive behaviour toward other members of the community, and he was stopped using a minimal amount of force,
said Staff Sergeant Michael Robinson.
The man was arrested for assaulting a police officer and causing a disturbance. He was held in custody for court.
“What happened today illustrates some of the challenges of policing in Terrace,”
said Stf. Sgt. Robinson. “Getting punched is not an expected part of a police officer’s job; our uniform is not a permission slip to be assaulted. When a police officer is attacked, we as a community should see it as an assault on the very foundation established to protect us.
It’s impressive to see how well our officers are able to respond to dynamic situations like this one, while adhering to the public’s expectation of our professionalism on a day-to-day basis.”
If you have information about crime contact the Terrace RCMP at (250)638-7400 or anonymously through Crime Stoppers by telephone at 1-800-222-TIPS, online at www.terracecrimestoppers.ca.