Date: Monday, March 13, 2023
Files: 23-8936, 23-8934
Victoria, BC – A VicPD officer is recovering after being stabbed with a needle while responding to an overdose Saturday night.
At approximately 8:30 pm on Saturday, March 11, 2023, officers on patrol in the 900-block of Pandora Avenue were notified by people in the area that a person was overdosing nearby. Officers located the person in distress, who was unconscious, without a pulse and not breathing, a short distance away in the 900-block of Mason Street. Officers administered nasal Naloxone that they were carrying and began chest compressions and CPR.
While officers were providing life-saving medical care to the person, a crowd gathered and began to attempt to intervene in the emergency medical care officers were providing. Additional officers attended and began to move the crowd back. One of the officers was then stabbed under the arm with a needle by a man in the crowd.
Officers disarmed the man who had stabbed the officer and took him into custody.
The person suffering from the overdose regained a pulse, resumed breathing, and a short time later, regained consciousness. Despite the arrival and offers of care from BC Emergency Health Services paramedics, they declined further medical attention.
The officer was treated in hospital for a non-life-threatening stab wound to the arm.
The man who stabbed the officer was transported to cells and held for court.
He faces two recommended charges – obstruction and assaulting a police officer with a weapon.
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