VPD defends violent arrest of "armed and dangerous" offender in DTES

@VANDUPeople/Twitter

The Vancouver Police Department has responded to footage that’s emerged of officers shooting a man with a beanbag gun in the Downtown Eastside as they arrest him.

In the video shared by the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, a DTES-based advocacy and support organization, a man is seen with his hands up surrounded by police officers.

“You wanna shoot me? You wanna shoot me?” The man says, with his hands up.

He takes a step towards the taxi he just got out of, apparently to put his hands on the vehicle’s roof, onlookers say, when police shoot him with a beanbag round.

He’s shot a second time, flinches, and then falls to the ground by the time the third round goes off. At that point, bystanders become outraged and demand answers from police.

“He was putting his arms on the car,” one woman says.

“Trash motherfuckers,” another bystander says.

Police shoot the man with another beanbag round while he’s on the ground, and then let a police dog at him.

BREAKING: At approx. 2:15PM today in the #DTES, @VancouverPD shot an unarmed man with his hands up. Constables fired multiple beanbag rounds at the man and sicced a canine on him once incapacitated.
We have permission from the victim’s loved ones to publish video of the incident. pic.twitter.com/dwGZQpC1Ru

— VANDU (@VANDUpeople) November 25, 2022

Tiktok user @blockboy604 also shared footage of the scene.

@blockboy604 #eastside #hastings #vpd #policebrutalitymuststop #cops #vancouver #cops #shooting ♬ original sound – Blockboy604

The violent arrest happened Thursday at approximately 2:15 pm, a few blocks from where a 42-year-old Indigenous man died after police shot him with a beanbag gun. That man’s family is in the process of suing the VPD and the City of Vancouver over what happened.

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Vancouver police responded Thursday evening about the latest arrest, saying the man shot with beanbag rounds was a high-risk, violent offender with a history of armed robberies, assaulting police, and drug trafficking.

“He is involved in the Downtown Eastside’s illicit drug trade and, based on his violent history, is considered armed and dangerous,” police said in a tweet.

The force says the man has been convicted of 17 criminal offences in the last decade, and in May he was sentenced to jail for assault causing bodily harm.

His first adult conviction for robbery came 10 years ago, when he was 19 years old in Toronto. Since that time, he’s been convicted of 17 criminal offences. His most recent conviction was in May, when he was sentenced to jail for assault causing bodily harm.

— Vancouver Police (@VancouverPD) November 25, 2022

Last year, the man apparently assaulted a VPD officer who was trying to arrest him for breaching bail. The man allegedly tried to escape by running through the front doors of VANDU, locking the door behind him, then fleeing out the back.

Officers recognized the man on Wednesday when they say him outside VANDU again. He was wanted for an unrelated crime.

When officers approached him, the man allegedly got into a taxi, told him to go, and allegedly threatened to kill him if he stopped. Once officers forced the cab to stop at Gore and Keefer streets, where the driver fled to safety.

“[The suspect] chose not to comply with our lawful commands to lay down on the ground. Instead, he turned to face the officers and challenged them to shoot him,” VPD said.

Officers say they discharged the first round of beanbags when the man made a motion back toward the rear door of the taxi. The force maintains the use of beanbag rounds was a “lawful, measured, and appropriate use of force.”

A police dog was deployed to gain full control so the man could be handcuffed. Once in custody, the man threatened to kill a number of our officers.

— Vancouver Police (@VancouverPD) November 25, 2022

The man remains in custody and has been treated for the dog bites he received at the scene.