From lavish house parties meant to shock neighbours and attract media attention to parties gone out of control by local wildlife, from backyard B&Es to Airbnb B&Es, vehicle invasions and thefts, British Columbia had its share of weird, freaky, annoying incidents last year.
Here are some of the odder events that took place:
Don’t talk to strangers
The incident of the two inmates who’d escaped from William Head Institution in July was well reported in the news. They were recaptured two days later in Esquimalt after they commented to a dog walker on the size of his Great Dane. The dog walker was an off-duty cop who recognized them and reported them.
Backyard squats
Saanich police dealt with two separate incidents of squatting in one night in early July. Police arrested a man after a homeowner on Douglas Street reported a naked man using the garden hose, then entering the homeowner’s recreational vehicle. The man was still in the RV when police arrived, and conditions inside the camper suggested he’d been living there for some time.
About one hour later, police arrested another man who had barricaded himself inside a camper on a Wilkinson Road property. The camper’s owner had returned home from vacation to find the camper door open, and clothing and other evidence inside that someone had made themselves at home.
Both men were charged with breaking and entering.
Airbnb B&E
Kat and Rod Gordon had their own experience with uninvited guests. The Vancouver Island couple checked into their Edmonton Airbnb on July 28, then went out. When they returned to the unit, the lights and stereo were on, and their bags were unpacked. The building’s hallway security cameras recorded an unknown man and woman breaking in and spending about four and a half hours in the suite that evening. The strangers smoked, drank, unpacked and tried on the Gordons’ clothing, shoes and jewelry, and washed their own clothes. They exited the building wearing the Gordons’ clothes, but left their own shoes, jackets and cigarettes.
They also left a note saying: “We are here! Today is the best day of the rest of our lives!”
Wild party
Wildlife of a different kind invaded and held a party of their own in a White Rock home in September. A gang of raccoons broke into Ken Rechik’s home through his roof, attic and garage. Once inside, they chewed through his speaker boxes, smashed wine glasses, knocked over plants, cleared the top of a dresser, and shredded a swinging chair. They used a corner of the dining room as a toilet, but strewed toilet paper throughout.
They made their getaway by unlatching a dining room window.
They didn’t leave a note.
Vehicle invasion…
In the early hours of Sept. 13, a black bear opened the door of a parked SUV in Port Moody, climbed in, then somehow shut and locked the door. The trapped animal set the car alarm off. By the time conservation officers released the confused bear, it had trashed the inside of the vehicle.
… And theft
In June, a person fleeing police used the cops’ own wheels to get away. A Surrey RCMP officer had tried to pull over a driver. The driver evaded police efforts by entering the parkade of a nearby building. Trapped there, the driver and passenger co-operated with police at first, then fled on foot.
As the officer chased the driver, the passenger jumped into the officer’s police car and drove it through a secured gate.
The vehicle was later found abandoned several hundred metres away.
Mistaken vehicle identity
An RCMP officer was making a routine patrol along a residential street in Trail in April, when a woman flagged him down. She was drunk and mistook the marked police vehicle for the vehicle of an alleged drug dealer.
The officer realized the woman’s error just as the dealer arrived on scene.
The officer immediately launched an investigation. As a result of his search of the suspect and his vehicle lead, about four grams of cocaine and crack, a cellphone and $520 were seized.
Events like these make a person pause and shake her head. I can hardly wait to see what strange happenings 2020 brings.
