Heavily armed Oak Bay police officers boarded a stolen yacht in the middle of the night and arrested a man who claimed to be infected with the COVID-19 virus.
Although the officers suspected the 25-year-old homeless man wasn鈥檛 infected, they couldn鈥檛 take any chances, Deputy Chief Ray Bernoties said Monday.
鈥淥ur officers told him: 鈥楾his COVID-19 thing is pretty serious. You鈥檙e going to tie up a lot of resources,鈥� 鈥� said Bernoties.
But appealing to the man鈥檚 good nature didn鈥檛 work. He refused to co-operate and repeatedly banged his head on the police car as he was driven to hospital.
The hospital quickly cleared him and the man was driven back to the police department and placed in a cell.
鈥淭his is a very serious allegation and this is putting a strain on already busy resources,鈥� Bernoties said. 鈥淏ut we can鈥檛 take any risks, not only to our officers, but to others in the cell block or cell-block staff.鈥�
Police received a call at 4:10聽a.m. from someone reporting the theft of an expensive yacht from Oak Bay Marina.
Officers called the Canadian Coast Guard for assistance and looked at webcams.
They could see a man paddling a canoe from the shore to the slip at the marina where the 54-foot yacht was docked.
The man forced his way onto the boat, listed for sale for more than $400,000, and drove it near the Oak Bay Beach Hotel.
The coast guard took three Oak Bay officers out to the stolen yacht.
They found the man in bed with a knife. When he claimed to have the virus, they placed a mask on him.
Bernoties is not sure what motivated the man to steal the expensive yacht, whether he was trying to create a permanent home or just wanted one comfortable night at sea.
鈥淎fter almost three decades of policing, I can鈥檛 even try to get into the minds of some people. I can鈥檛 really explain why he would do this, which is the case with many criminal activities. But we were pleased we were able to act on it so quickly. We鈥檙e very grateful for the help we got from the Canadian Coast Guard and we鈥檙e thankful this went down safely,鈥� Bernoties said.
鈥淥ne of our members was heavily armed because we don鈥檛 know what we鈥檙e facing. We鈥檙e not experts at boarding vessels on the water. But our members were able to take some personal risk and de-escalate the situation in such a way that nobody got hurt.鈥�
Police are now taking statements from witnesses and the owner of the boat.
The Son Seeker IV has been towed back to Oak Bay Marina.
During the pandemic, Oak Bay officers are using their own discretion in how they handle calls. Members are practising social distancing and masking up quickly if they need to be hands on, Bernoties said.
While members generally go to every call in Oak Bay, they鈥檝e switched to phoning people when possible.
鈥淚f it鈥檚 a theft that occurred last night, whereas we normally go and try to comfort the person, now we鈥檙e using the phone. We鈥檙e trying to change our level of service to some degree to allow for that.鈥�
The suspect, who is well known to police, is facing charges of theft over $5,000, possession of stolen property and mischief over $5,000 for damage to the boat.
