Man who chased Vancouver woman also threatened to 'kill children' in a park, witnesses say
Two Vancouver mothers say the same man who chased and yelled at a woman in Yaletown this week also threatened to "kill children" in a nearby park that same afternoon. But when they called 911 for help, they say, no officers arrived.
Yaletown resident Lauren Hitchman said she was in Emery Barnes Park Monday afternoon when a man started acting erratically while approaching women and children.
“He kept saying, ‘The kids are gonna go to hell, they’re dead, you’ll see,’ and we’re like, 'You’ll see?' That made us think, like, are you going to harm our kids?” she said.
Hitchman was with her friend, Tiffany Tolmie, and both women had 17-month-old toddlers with them. Hitchman said the man initially started threatening another group of women and children, so they all huddled together for safety in numbers.
Tolmie recalled that the incident was “immediately terrifying” and said they were focused on trying to keep the children safe.
“We were trying to de-escalate the situation, we were asking him calmly just, 'Please leave. We’re asking you nicely to leave,'” Tolmie said.
The man didn’t leave. In fact, the mothers said, he became increasingly agitated.
“He was calling me fat, he was saying I need to lose weight, I need to go to the gym, like, 'You’re ugly. No one’s going to love you,' just absurd things,” Hitchman said.
Part of the interaction was captured on camera and one of the women can be heard speaking on the phone to a 911 operator. Tolmie said the women were told to “hang tight,” but officers never came.
“The fact that we stayed for an hour and no one showed up when someone’s threatening to kill children at the park is incredible,” she said.
A few days later, Hitchman saw the same man’s face on a CTV News article after he’d chased another woman down the street on the same afternoon. Police officers did attend that scene, but the suspect had already fled.
“To see on the news that this same person, on the same day, had done the same thing to someone else and that’s where the police had been, I mean, that's super disturbing,” Hitchman said.
VPD spokesperson Sgt. Steve Addison acknowledged there was a “time delay” in officers responding to the call at the park, suggesting that dispatchers could have been “triaging” calls due to a shortage of resources.
“It’s not necessarily acceptable, but sometimes there can be a time delay because we’re balancing risk,” Addison said, later confirming to CTV News that VPD had asked patrol units to follow up “immediately” with all women involved in both incidents.
Hitchman, who works in mental health and addictions, said she is used to dealing with situations like this in her role, but not while at the park with children. She fears the system is failing.
“I know if I was acting in a way that that gentleman was, someone would have checked in on me, so who’s checking in on him?” she said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Couple randomly attacked, 1 stabbed, by group of teens in Toronto, police say
A man has been transported to hospital after police say he was stabbed in a random attack carried out by a group of teens in Toronto on Friday night.
Ron Ellis, who played over 1,000 games with Maple Leafs, dead at 79
Ron Ellis, who played over 1,000 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs and was a member of Canada's team at the 1972 Summit Series, has died at age 79.
Fort Nelson, B.C., wildfire doubles in size as 3,000-plus ordered to evacuate
The wildfire that sparked Friday and caused evacuation orders for more than 3,000 people in Fort Nelson, B.C., and the nearby Fort Nelson First Nation, has grown to nearly 1,700 hectares in size, according to a Saturday morning update from the BC Wildfire Service.
Dutch contestant kicked out of Eurovision hours before tension-plagued song contest final
Hours before the final, Dutch contestant Joost Klein was dramatically booted out by organizers over a backstage incident. He had failed to perform at two dress rehearsals on Friday, and contest organizer the European Broadcasting Union said it was investigating an "incident."
IN PHOTOS Northern lights dance across the night sky in southern Ont.
From London, to Mildmay, Collingwood and St. Thomas, here are some highlights of Friday night and Saturday morning's northern lights display.
Haitians demand the resignation and arrest of the country's police chief after a new gang attack
A growing number of civilians and police officers are demanding the dismissal and arrest of Haiti's police chief as heavily armed gangs launched a new attack in the capital of Port-au-Prince, seizing control of yet another police station early Saturday.
opinion How to use your credit card as a powerful wealth-building tool
Irresponsibly using a credit card can land you in financial trouble, but personal finance columnist Christopher Liew says when used properly, it can be a powerful wealth-building tool that can help grow your credit profile and create new opportunities.
Which Canadian cities have the highest and lowest grocery prices?
Where you live plays a big factor in what you pay at the grocery store. And while it's no secret the same item may have a different price depending on the store, city or province, we wanted to see just how big the differences are, and why.
'We have no judge for you': Man's assault charges dropped weeks before trial due to lack of judges in Toronto
A man who was accused of sexually and physically assaulting a woman had his charges dropped in April, just weeks before he was set to stand trial in Toronto, due to a lack of judges in the region.