A young woman was punched in the face near Marine Drive Station after she declined to give a stranger a cigarette on February 1, police say.
She was punched just after getting off the bus when a stranger asked her for a smoke. The 23-year-old victim is a non-smoker and didn’t have any on her.
“The victim, who doesn’t smoke, said she didn’t have one. She was then punched a number of times in the face, causing an injury,” VPD Sergeant Steve Addison told Daily Hive via email.
“VPD was called right away, and that was key to us being able to locate and arrest the suspect, who was still in the area.”
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Samantha Estelle Towedo, 38, has been charged with the assault.
The Vancouver Police Department describes the attack as “random and unprovoked,” which is not at all uncommon in the city. Statistics from Vancouver Police show an average of four stranger assaults in the city per day last year.
To cite two recent examples, one woman was assaulted during the day while walking past Hotel Georgia on New Year’s Eve, and in late December, a man was stabbed in a Tim Hortons in downtown Vancouver.
Court records show Towedo was released from custody after appearing before a judge in Vancouver provincial court on February 2. Her next court date is slated for February 16.
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