Police say they have arrested a man who allegedly spat on and hit a worker at a downtown Victoria food retailer with a shopping cart.
Victoria police said they received report of an assault in progress at a food retailer in the 700-block of Yates Street just before noon on Jan. 4.
The victim, who was hit in the stomach, was transported to hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, police said. The suspect was arrested at the scene.
Police said the man attempted to punch the female worker while making “racist comments” before spitting on her and pushing a shopping cart into her.
Victoria police spokesperson Griffen Hohl declined to reveal the ethnicity of the victim, citing privacy.
Police said the suspect is known to police and has had “hundreds of prior contacts” with police, including several that resulted in assault-related convictions.
In a statement, Victoria police chief Del Manak said attacks like these are concerning and can affect the community’s sense of security. “VicPD is pursuing all the tools in our toolbox to mitigate the risk chronic offenders like this impose, while fully acknowledging the limits that exist within the criminal justice system today.”
In September 2022, the B.C. government released an investigative report on repeat offending prepared on behalf of the B.C. Urban Mayors’ Caucus by mental health and policing experts Amanda Butler and Doug LePard.
The report said fewer people were being held in custody for trial and fewer charges were being laid for serious offences and breaching bail conditions, leaving police and probation officers frustrated, with few tools to manage repeat offenders.
The NDP government said then that it was working on three of the report’s 28 recommendations, including one to bring back a prolific-offender management pilot program that ran from 2008-2012.
B.C. is also working to establish a dedicated provincial committee that would co-ordinate supports for people with complex health-care needs in the criminal justice system.
