It was a close call for several West Vancouver police officers Saturday night when they took down a suspect brandishing a syringe and utility knife.
Police received a dispatch around 9:30 p.m. alerting them to a theft in progress at pharmacy at Park Royal with a female suspect well known to store security.
The first officer on the scene caught up with woman next to the adjacent McDonald’s restaurant but when he grabbed her by the arm, the woman pulled a syringe from her bag, yelled that it was “loaded” and began stabbing at the officer, according to Const. Jeff Palmer, West Vancouver police spokesman.
“The allegation is there was some lunging and some jabbing but no contact,” Palmer said of the near-miss. “There’s always biohazard potential you have to be aware of.”
The suspect fled into McDonald’s and more officers arrived on the scene. When she emerged shortly after, the woman was allegedly threatening officers with a knife.
“As they were taking (her) to the ground and disarming her, her arm that’s got the X-Acto knife is swinging and basically grazes the knee of one of the officers,” Palmer said. “With that kind of weapon, it can inflict a lot of damage in a big hurry. Fortunately, it was just a very grazing contact so the injury was effectively a superficial scratch.”
Thirty-year-old Sonya Edith Baird, of no fixed address, is now facing several charges. These include two counts of assaulting an officer, one charge of assault with intent to resist arrest and six counts of carrying or
threatening to use a weapon on an officer.
Baird, who is in custody until a bail hearing, was previously under a court order to stay off Park Royal property at the time, according to Palmer.
Police will be reviewing the use-of-force applied in the arrest.
