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VIDEO: South Surrey berry-field arrest turned over to Maple Ridge

Police dog bit by suspect during arrest: RCMP
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A police officer investigates a burned out truck in the 17500-block of 32 Avenue Sunday. (Lance Peverley/Peace Arch News)

Police in Maple Ridge are now leading the investigation into an incident that ended Sunday night with an arrest in a South Surrey berry field.

“The connection has been made to the Maple Ridge incident and Maple Ridge is going to be leading the entire investigation, including the incidents that occurred in Surrey,” Surrey RCMP Cpl. Scotty Schumann told Peace Arch News Tuesday.

It started with an assault and stolen pickup truck in Maple Ridge Friday. Sunday night, police arrested a 37-year-old suspect in a South Surrey berry field, on 176 Street just north of 32 Avenue.

The evening began for Surrey RCMP at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, when officers called to the 3200-block of 176 Street found a burned-out GMC Sierra pickup truck.

According to a news release issued by Surrey RCMP early the next morning, “a male was observed pushing a wheelbarrow full of items away from the burning vehicle.”

The vehicle was determined stolen from Maple Ridge a few days earlier and associated with a number of break-and-enters where firearms had been taken, the news release notes.

Police set up a perimeter in the area of the truck, and a police dog team began to track the suspect northbound along 176 Street.

In the meantime, several calls came in to Surrey RCMP from residents along 176 Street, who reported a man matching the description of the individual associated with the truck attempting to steal a vehicle and force his way into residences.

One resident told television news that a stranger broke into her home, demanded keys to a car and forced her to hide in a bathroom with her young nephew. She said he told her, “I need to hide.”

As police began to close in on the suspect, the man stole a bicycle from one of the homes and attempted to escape on it through the nearby berry fields, the release states.

The police dog and its handler caught up with the suspect in the field, and a brief altercation ensued in which the suspect attacked the dog.

Asked Monday about the attack, Schumann said he “reported yesterday that a dog was bit in the face and wasn’t seriously injured.”

A 37-year-old Surrey man with no fixed address was arrested at the scene. Police said he would face “a number of serious charges.”

The investigation was conclusively linked to an earlier incident in Maple Ridge, Schumann said, deferring further questions to that detachment.

Ridge Meadows RCMP had stated in a release that they were investigating possible links between the Surreyincident and an assault that occurred in Maple Ridge on Friday evening.

That happened in the 11000-block of 284 Street, where officers found a man in distress near a rural property.

The victim was taken to hospital where he remains in serious condition.

Ridge Meadows RCMP communications strategist Dan Herbranson told PAN Tuesday that the arrested man was expected to appear in court this afternoon, and that he expected to have further details to share after that.

Video posted to Cloverdale Reporter Facebook page by Nav Gill.

Shane MacKichan video.

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Tracy Holmes

About the Author: Tracy Holmes

Tracy Holmes has been a reporter with Peace Arch News since 1997.
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