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several people assaulted

‘Agitated’ man arrested for assault at Kal Pier

Jul 6, 2020 | 8:57 AM

Police had to use a Taser to arrest a man accused of assaulting another man, and other people, at Kal Beach in Coldstream Sunday evening.

RCMP received multiple reports of a man assaulting people at the popular site on Kalamalka Road.

“At approximately 8 p.m., police dispatch was advised of an altercation between two men on Kal Pier where one man was punched unconscious and fell into the water,” said media relations officer Cpl. Tania Finn. “While witnesses assisted the victim out of the water, the suspect continued to assault other people on the pier and beach.”

Finn said officers responded to the area and located the suspect in the parking lot where he was advised he was under arrest for assault, but the suspect refused to comply and fled on foot toward the train trestle over Kalamalka Road.

“The suspect was in a highly agitated state, standing at the top of the trestle and was screaming at police that he would kill them. The officers on scene attempted to de-escalate the situation verbally and encouraged the man to give himself up peacefully,” Finn stated.

Finn said given the dangerous location and the suspect’s level of aggression, officers deployed a conducted energy weapon which successfully caused a neural muscular incapacitation of the suspect.

“This permitted officers to take the suspect into custody without further incident or injury to the suspect or the officers involved,” Fin added

A 27-year-old man from Vernon remains in custody in order to appear in court. One of the victims was transported to hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

You can see video footage of the arrest in this report from Global News.

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact Constable Stephanie Buchanan at the Vernon North Okanagan RCMP non-emergency line of 250-545-7171.

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