Four people have been charged after a cross-jurisdictional incident ended with two Richmond Mounties being injured.
The incident started Tuesday, when Richmond RCMP officers spotted a stolen BMW sedan, reportedly taken from a residence in Squamish.
The suspects then made their way to Burnaby where they transferred into an awaiting Nissan SUV. This second vehicle was reportedly stolen from the same residence in Squamish.
While being tailed from a distance by police, the suspects then travelled towards the Fraser Valley and transferred into a third vehicle, a dark Jeep SUV, near Hope.
And in an effort to finally apprehend the suspects, two Richmond Mounties were injured after the suspects rammed the Mounties in their police cruiser.
Aaron Dutiame, 25, is facing seven charges, including two counts of possession of stolen property and one count each of: possession of break-in instruments; driving while disqualified; dangerous operation of a motor vehicle; identity theft and dealing with an identity document without lawful excuse.
Steven Hart, 31, is facing three charges, including failing to stop, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and possession of stolen property.
Kristopher Larson, 22, is charged with possession of break-in instruments, while Stephany Heppner, 23, is charged with fraud.
According to police, an additional female was not charged at this time and more charges may be forthcoming.
The incident happened during an elaborate journey which saw officers from Richmond RCMP’s Property Crime Unit and the Quick Response Team join forces with fellow Mounties from across the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley.
Included in the tailing of the suspects were four RCMP municipalities, air services and the police dog service.
During the course of a little over three and a half hours, the suspects changed vehicles three times, before being arrested near Manning Park.
The injured Richmond officers were shaken up but will fully recover.
This Jeep was discovered to have been rented, allegedly using fraudulent means.
Police say the RCMP Air Services One was “instrumental in maintaining a watchful eye from the sky while multiple police units on the ground safely followed and tactically arrested the suspects.
“When crime activity is observed, it simply has no bounds. Richmond RCMP officers had great instincts when they spotted the original stolen BMW,” said Corporal Simon Lee.
“We had a fluid, near seamless deployment of multiple police resources across multiple jurisdictions. We had air support and ground support working in unison, with communications across that scale.
“We see the suspects changing vehicles frequently to avoid apprehension by the police. It also shows how one type of crime can lead to other crimes. We recovered a lot of evidence — two stolen vehicles, credit cards, cheques, loyalty cards, identification, mail, and computer equipment.
“In addition to recovering credit cards, we recovered a card skimmer and passports. We are working with all of our law enforcement partners in addition to our partners at Canada Post. We are thankful for the tremendous assistance in our investigation.”
