Yellowknife RCMP seek to speak with the man who stole van in city

An RCMP patrol vehicle. (CKLB file photo.)

Yellowknife RCMP say they are seeking to speak with the person who stole a van in the city over the weekend.

They say the blue, 1996 GMC Safari van was stolen at about 6:45 pm on Saturday from the owner’s residence.

Police say for privacy reasons they won’t say where the owner lives.

RCMP state they have requested security video footage of areas around town, including the gas station on 49th Avenue and Forrest Drive.

They believe the suspect was in that area.

Mounties say the vehicle was recovered undamaged in the area of School Draw and 49th St.

They don’t say when it was found.

Police say for investigational reasons they are not saying whether the keys had been left in the van before the theft.

CKLB also asked why this apparent joyride prompted an RCMP news release, while another joyride earlier this year did not.

CKLB pointed out that an arrest was made in that earlier vehicle theft, but the public only learned about the incident after it was revealed in court that the allegedly impaired culprit had a rib broken by an RCMP officer after the officer had allegedly turned off his dashcam video.

RCMP state in an email that in the earlier incident an arrest was made and there was no threat to public safety and therefore no news release was necessary.

They add that they too only learned about the broken rib and dashcam when it came up in court.

Mounties confirm that the internal police investigation into why the man’s rib was broken and why the dashcam was turned off is ongoing.

It happened about six months ago.

Police say 12 vehicle thefts in the city this year are still being investigated.

Call RCMP or Crime Stoppers if you know anything about any of them.

 

 

About the Author

John McFadden
John has been in the broadcast journalism industry since the 1980s. He has been a reporter in Yellowknife since 2012 and joined CKLB in January of 2018. John covers the crime and court beat as well as reporting on other areas including politics, business, entertainment and sports. He won seven national community newspaper awards while he was a journalist with Northern News Services Limited (NNSL). John worked in Ontario before coming North including stints as a TV sportscaster in Peterborough and senior news writer for CBC and CTV in downtown Toronto.