Busy New Year's Eve for Surrey Mounties
Surrey Mounties responded to more than 400 calls for help during a particularly busy New Year's Eve shift. That's more than one call every two minutes, all night long.
"We had a lot of disputes to attend," Cpl. Bert Paquet said. "People celebrating in a rowdy fashion."
"It was one of the busiest nights of the year."
A Surrey RCMP constable was badly injured responding to one of those calls.
He crashed his patrol car into a lamppost at 144th Street and 72nd Avenue in Newton shortly after midnight Tuesday while responding, with lights and siren on, to a call about a large fight involving weapons.
The constable was taken to hospital with face and head injuries and a broken leg. "Thankfully nothing life threatening," Paquet said.
Paquet said the officer had swerved to avoid another motorist who moved into his path. "You always try to avoid impact with any other vehicle," Paquet said. "He did what he had to. Unfortunately he lost control."
The fight turned out to be less serious than reported.
Meanwhile, a man and woman were shot inside a residence in the 5800-block of 132nd Street, at about 3:40 a.m. Tuesday. The woman is listed in stable condition and the man has been released from hospital. Cpl. Bert Paquet said at press time that police were trying to locate a "person of interest."
"We're still trying to establish what the motive could have been," he said. Paquet said police believe the shooting was targeted and not random. "The public is not considered at risk in this case."
Delta Police responded to 98 calls - 63 of them during the evening. The department receives about 50 calls for help on a typical night. "It was busy and steady," Acting Sgt. Lisa Coupar said. "Nothing major though. It was just major busy."
White Rock Mounties focused on drunk driving, checking roughly 500 cars on New Years Eve. They were happy to have issued only one 90-day driving prohibition.
"It was actually quite uneventful," Const. Janelle Shoihet said of New Years in White Rock.
"Nothing really crazy."