The latest man shot by police was driving a stolen pickup truck that had previously dragged a sex-trade worker for nearly a block in the Downtown Eastside, police said yesterday.
Const. Jana McGuinness said that a sex-trade worker alleges that on March 29, a man driving that same truck had taken drugs from her without paying and sped off.
The woman’s jacket became caught in the door and she was dragged for about 100 metres before the driver opened the door, causing her to fall to the ground.
On Sunday evening, officers had been searching for the truck when they spotted it in a parking lot near Jackson and Union streets.
When they moved their cruiser to box it in, the driver accelerated toward them, McGuinness said.
“Tires were smoking, as the driver repeatedly refused commands from the officers,” McGuinness said, adding that one of the officers was standing between the truck and another car, and was afraid of being crushed.
He fired a single shot into the truck, hitting the 38-year-old driver who was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injures.
“The decision to use deadly force is not taken lightly,” said McGuinness.
“Our officers are trained to shoot to stop a threat.”
