Let's be honest, this story would be more amazing if a 5-yearold had seen a button and NOT pushed it.
A young child found and pushed a panic button at the Ucluelet Co-op around 4 p.m. on March 7 activating a silent alarm that sent police en route.
The Co-op is equipped with "hold-up alarms," which are in place for staff members to push if and when a robbery is in progress.
"In this case a small child had found this button and decided to press it so I went racing up to the Co-op," said Const. Chris Squire.
Squire said Ucluelet police receive about two false alarms every week but a hold-up alarm carries more urgency than a standard alarm because it implies a hold-up is in progress.
The alarm is silent so Co-op staff and shoppers were unaware it had been activated when Squire raced in expecting to apprehend a criminal.
"I thought it was absolutely legitimate," he said. "Obviously when you're going to something like that the adrenaline is going so you're trying to take a moment and figure out 'am I missing something here.'" The store's glass front allowed him to quickly realize no panic was going on inside and Squire does not blame the child-who he said was about 5 years old- because buttons are understandably hard to leave alone.
Belligerent man avoids assault charges An intoxicated and violent man was arrested at a Ucluelet bar on March 1. "Too much too drink and he decided he wanted to start a fight with the bouncers," said Const. Chris Squire. "That's never a good idea."
Squire said the two bouncers made short work of the man and held him down before Const. James Van Camp arrived and arrested the man.
The man was taken into custody fairly easily but became violent again after arriving at the detachment and began fighting with Van Camp who was attempting to lodge him in cells, according to Squire.
"It's never a good idea to fight with the police," Squire said.
No significant injuries were reported and the man was locked up until sober.
"When he sobered up his attitude had changed significantly and he was given a talking to by Const. Van Camp and was released without charges," Squire said.
The man's aggression towards Van Camp could have led to an assaulting a peace officer charge, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in jail, but Van Camp opted not to pursue this charge.
The bar staff the man allegedly assaulted were equally uninterested in pressing charges.
"The two bouncers wanted him out, they didn't really want charges they weren't injured they just wanted him out of there," Squire said.
Drunk driver loses license An intoxicated man lost his license for 90 days after drunkdriving his car into a ditch along Port Albion road around 1:25 a.m. on March 6. A passerby alerted RCMP and both the driver and passerby were at the scene when Const. Susan Argyle arrived.
Argyle became suspicious the driver had been drinking and issued two approved screening device tests both of which the driver failed.
Since the driver was outside the vehicle when police arrived, Argyle had to prove he had had the driver of the vehicle and had not consumed any alcohol since getting out of his crashed car and blowing into the approved screening device.
The driver admitted he had consumed alcohol before crashing the car and the passerby confirmed she had not seen him drink any alcohol since getting out of the vehicle.
The driver received an immediate 90-day driving prohibition and his vehicle was impounded for 30 days.
No injuries were reported. reporter@westerlynews.ca