Residents awarded for catching violent suspect

Valerie Leung & Mike Su

Three Richmond citizens were honoured last week for their brave actions in helping Richmond RCMP catch a violent suspect and tending to an injured officer

Construction site workers Stephen Baskerville, Tracey Hill and Margaret Woodcock were joined by friends, family, Richmond RCMP Chief Supt Dave Chauhan and a handful of officers at the Richmond detachment on Jan 25 for the award presentation

The three civilians jumped in to help an injured Richmond RCMP officer and catch a suspect while officers were working on a stolen property case

On Feb 17, 2022, four suspects, three male and one female, were confronted by staff at the Hampton Inn on Bridgeport Road for fraudulent use of a credit card

The four individuals then fled the hotel

Richmond RCMP was called to the hotel and identified three of the four suspects through video surveillance Two male and one female suspects were recognized by two officers patrolling the area near Sex- smith Road and Douglas Street

The female and one male were arrested for stolen property, but a second male suspect fled on foot

A Richmond RCMP officer chased the individual, which led to an altercation between the two in which the officer was repeatedly struck in the head The suspect then removed the officer’s collapsible baton from his holster and struck the officer with the baton, which “rendered the officer unconscious” and ran away

Civilian witness Hill, a construction flagger working nearby, witnessed the entire altercation and alerted fellow co-workers on-site, telling them what was happening and where the suspect ran

“I couldn’t run and jump in and save him because I probably wouldn’t have turned out okay,” said Hill

Construction site flagger Woodcock then used the work radio to direct their site supervisor Baskerville to a business plaza on Capstan Way where the suspect entered a restaurant

“To hear an officer has been hit, I just needed to find out what was going on and do whatever I could do,” said Baskerville, explaining “it was all instinct to help ”