Vigilante chooses wrong targets
Photo: Colin Dacre
The Lake Country RCMP says a man who allegedly tried to take justice into his own hands is now open to prosecution.
A resident of the 14,000 block of Oyama Road in Lake Country called the police on March 30 to report that his home was broken into overnight and several items were missing.
A few hours later, the homeowner and another man found some of the stolen property near the Wood Lake boat launch. Two women approached the area where the items were hidden and one of the men allegedly chased both women with a baseball bat. The women escaped in a vehicle that was followed by the men in their own vehicle, police said.
Lake Country RCMP officers rushed into the area and stopped the suspicious vehicle. A 43-year-old man from Lake Country has now been arrested and released on conditions for a future trial.
One version of the events was widespread on social media, reporting that a woman in Oyama was walking her dog when a man with a bat came running down the railroad path and yelled, “You will enjoy this more than I do.”
“She ran through the forest until she came to the platform and saw him get into the vehicle with another man with a video camera,” says the social media post. “She saw another girl running on the way and told her to ‘run, he will kill us.'”
According to the RCMP, there is no evidence that the two women had anything to do with the break-in or the stolen items
“When people choose to evade law enforcement and take matters into their own hands, it can lead to dangerous situations that put innocent people at risk and vigilante groups themselves into conflict with the law,” said Sgt. Jon Collins, commandant of the Lake Country RCMP.
