A 95 year old Penticton resident scared off a break and enter suspect and provided a description and the direction of travel which enabled police to apprehend the 47 year old suspect using the Police Service Dog.
On January 28th, 2016 at 1157 pm, a 95 year old woman reported to police that a male had just kicked in the front door of her residence on Brandon Avenue in Penticton. She had scared him off and he ran out of the back door. Police immediately flooded the area, setting up a perimeter, ensuring the safety of the victim who was not injured, confirmed the description and the direction of travel of the suspect.
The Police Service Dog “Tig” was able to track the suspect to an area of thick thorn bushes near the Channel Parkway where a male, matching the description, was located and began fighting with the police officer and the police dog.
A second officer arrived and they were able to take the suspect into custody and transport him to Penticton Regional Hospital for treatment before taking him to cells. The Police Service Dog handler suffered a broken hand during the arrest and also required treatment at hospital.
“This is an extremely serious crime that has traumatized an innocent person in our community. I commend our officers who responded quickly and appropriately to this situation” said Staff Sergeant Kurt LOZINSKI, “We will continue to work with the victim to ensure her safety and wellbeing”.
A 47 year old Penticton resident, is currently in Police custody and will appear in Penticton Provincial Court today.
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Break Ins, vehicle thefts, mischief, arson, assaults with bear spray, etc all across the City are suspected to have been caused by the same group of youth.
On January 28th, 2016 at approximately 9pm, Penticton RCMP began to receive complaints of a group of youths causing problems in the area of Power Street, Churchill Road and Lakeshore Drive. Police patrolled the area and at 10 pm they came across a male that had been bear sprayed and he was transported to Penticton Hospital for treatment. This male was not cooperative in assisting police in identifying who bear sprayed him.
At 1039 pm, police received a report of six young people running around Lakeshore Drive associated to a van parked nearby, the only description was that they were wearing dark clothing and making lots of noise. The youth were gone upon police arrival and the van appeared to have a tampered ignition but had not been reported stolen. The registered owners were contacted and surprised to learn their van was not in the driveway of their Latimer Street residence.
At 11pm, a resident of Power Street reported that a male had entered her basement suite through a window and when she confronted him she was bear sprayed. Police attended and cleared the residence and the occupants were transported to Penticton Regional Hospital for decontamination.
The suspect is described as a young male with no facial hair, Caucasian, very pale, approximately 6 feet tall, thin, wearing a black hoody and dark pants.
Throughout the night there were several reports of youth kicking down fences, lighting napkins on fire at a doorway of Penticton Secondary School and smashing a car window on Forestbrook Drive.
Cpl. Don Wrigglesworth is asking the public “Do you have a teenage son? Where was he last night? Who was he with? Did he and his friends steal a car, assault people with bear spray, break into houses, break car windows, commit arson and other endless mischief in Penticton?”
As all of these crimes were happening, Police responded to the Brandon Avenue break and enter of the 95 year old lady’s residence (which was not related).
Police have a number of leads and have identified potential suspects in these matters and will continue to investigate. If the public have any information that can assist in identifying the culprits please call the Penticton RCMP or Crimestoppers.