Viral transit police officer who calmly handled anti-masker gets promoted

Metro Vancouver Transit Police have promoted an officer who calmly diffused a situation involving an anti-masker, and many Redditors who saw video of the incident are thrilled.

Transit police posted to the internet forum about Const. Peter Kwok’s new position as media relations officer on Monday, and users who remembered his actions on a SkyTrain in 2020 were quick to offer praise.

“He deserves it for sure,” one user wrote.

“Const. Kwok is what every police officer should try to be,” said another.

According to Transit Police, more than 200 people emailed the force to say how much they appreciated Kwok’s calm handling of the situation — many of them members of the r/vancouver sub-Reddit.

“You were all extremely kind to him when a video of him dealing with an anti-masker went viral on Reddit,” the force said. “For his first spokesperson task, he insisted on publicly thanking all of you wonderful people here on Reddit with a photo.”

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The December 2020, a woman who refused to put on a mask during TransLink’s COVID-19 mask mandate filmed her interaction with Kwok, but after the video was shared widely online many people took the officer’s side.

The woman riding the Canada Line tells Kwok she has a medical exemption and produces a card. The text on the card is not legible, and Kwok doesn’t appear to accept it as genuine.

He remains calm as she begins yelling and says she must leave the train if she refuses to wear a mask.

The woman insists she must make it to Richmond and that she cannot wear a mask because “I need healthy air exchange in my mouth.”

Eventually, the officer arrests the woman while she calls him “disgusting” and says he doesn’t have the right to touch her.