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Worker hit by car in B.C. Interior while trying to stop alleged thieves

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Police in B.C.'s Interior say two men are facing "numerous charges" after allegedly stealing from a store and ramming an employee with a car while fleeing.

The incident happened Tuesday at a store in Summerland, according to a news release from the local RCMP detachment. 

Video of the collision obtained by Castanet News shows the car - a white, older-looking sedan - driving forward as the employee stands in the way.

The car inches forward and appears to strike the employee, who sits on the vehicle's hood. It then accelerates and the employee falls off.

It's unclear from the video whether the worker was run over in the incident. A spokesperson for Summerland RCMP told CTV News the victim sustained serious, but non-life-threatening injuries.

Police said they were called to the 13000 block of Victoria Road North around 10 a.m. for a report that the employee had been struck by a vehicle. Castanet reports that the incident occurred in the Sungate shopping plaza, which is in the road's 13600 block.

According to police, the men in the vehicle left a store "with unpaid merchandise."

"Upon the men getting into a parked vehicle, the employee attempted to prevent them from leaving," police said in their release.

Investigators soon connected the incident to a home on Perkins Crescent in Penticton, where they executed a search warrant and arrested the two suspects, RCMP said.

Officers also seized "several firearms, suspected stolen merchandise and illegal drugs" from the property.

The two men, both Penticton residents in their 30s, are now facing "numerous charges" and are scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 13, according to police.

The specific charges against the men have not yet been approved, and police have not shared their names. The investigation is ongoing, and Summerland RCMP are asking anyone who witnessed it or has information about it to contact them at 250-494-7416. 

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