A report of a possible abduction brought local police in full force to the Shell gas station the evening of Nov. 28, a report which was later proven to be a false alarm.
After Vancouver police shared a report of a possible abduction, Hope RCMP located the car in question at the gas station at 191 Old Hope Princeton Way. Four police cars descended upon the station and took one man into custody. After investigating they determined there was no abduction, the man was released and the passengers were allowed to continue their travels.
“At around 7 p.m. the Hope RCMP received a report from the Vancouver police to check the safety, the well being of a passenger of a car relating to a report that they received in Vancouver,” said RCMP spokesperson Mike Rail.
The car, a grey Mercedes S500 was located by a general duty officer at the Shell station, where it appears the people in the car had stopped to change a tire.
“They were fixing their tire and they came in to ask to use a tire jack and I didn’t have one that I could offer them. So they walked out and they were just still trying to fix their tire,” said a Shell gas station attendant. “They had pulled everything out of their vehicle to grab the tire…All of a sudden five cop cars just surrounded them.”
The attendant saw two individuals get arrested, an older man and a middle-aged man, and a female passenger remained at the gas station.
When The Hope Standard arrived at the scene around 7:30 p.m., four police vehicles were parked around the Mercedes. Police were interviewing a woman who looked to be a teenager or young adult, standing beside the car and several bags which seem to have been emptied from the car.
After the RCMP investigation concluded the passenger was not in any danger, the one man taken into custody was released and the people were allowed to continue their travels.
“In this instance, the call that the Vancouver police had received isn’t what they found when they did the investigation in Hope. So everybody was safe,” Rail said.
Rail did not specify what exactly RCMP officers did to arrive at the conclusion that the passenger was safe, but he did say this included taking one individual into custody, interviewing all of the people involved and collecting evidence.
Rail said these cases often end up on the radar of Hope RCMP as any issues involving highways come through Hope, and each is treated very seriously.
“It becomes even more challenging in a community like Hope, that is so transient. So you get a complaint like that, and you really have to make sure that you’ve covered all the bases of your investigation. Because once you let folks go, they’re gone. They’re traveling through and they’re not coming back,” he said.
“It’s treated seriously until all the evidence is collected and then once all the evidence is collected you assess what you have. And they conferred back with Vancouver as well. And it was not an abduction, it wasn’t.”
“It was a good ending, it was investigated, and the folks went on their way.”
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