By Alison Taylor
Police got a helping hand finding a wanted man after he was hand-delivered to them in the backseat of a cab.
The man was carrying stolen goods from a recent robbery in Whistler when he was taken to the police station. A warrant had been issued for his arrest.
“We were actively pursuing looking for him and then low and behold he was handed to us, so to speak,” said Corporal Dave Ritchie of the Squamish RCMP detachment.
Early in the morning of Friday, Nov. 24 the 27-year-old man passed out in the back of a cab in Squamish and the driver took him to the police station because he could not wake him up. There is nothing unusual about this, said Ritchie, adding that cab drivers will come to police with patrons who won’t pay or who cannot be roused.
“This isn’t the first time,” said Ritchie. “They sometimes need assistance in retrieving their monies.”
When police began helping the cabbie, they realized there was an outstanding warrant for the passenger’s arrest.
They also discovered he was carrying five stolen snowboards and a North Face jacket from a robbery in Whistler the previous night.
Roughly $3,600 worth of snowboards was stolen from a store on Thursday, Nov. 23 and there was further $1,600 worth of damage.
According to police there was a second attempted break and enter at another Whistler store that morning.
No charges have been laid as yet in the break and enter.
“He was held here, sobered up and then released,” said Ritchie.
The man is still facing charges from an incident in October when he was charged with two counts of impaired driving, one count of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and one count of possession of stolen property.
Police had issued a warrant for his arrest after the man failed to appear in court from that incident. Charges relating to the Nov. 24 robbery are still pending.
