Last evening, a Traffic Safety Unit officer was assaulted while attempting to take a suspect into custody.
At about 7:30pm last evening, a report of three people fighting at the corner of Cedar Hill and Cedar Hill Cross roads, was received at the Saanich Police Communications Centre.
The first officer who arrived confirmed that one of the three had been assaulted by a second. The suspect was pointed out to the officer and could be seen in the distance running away. The officer began to pursue the suspect on foot, but was a ways back. A passing citizen offered to provide a ride to the officer to ferry him closer to the suspect, which was gladly accepted.
A second officer, the officer who was assaulted, caught up to the suspect on Shorncliffe drive. He proceeded to block the suspect with his patrol car, forcing him to run into a nearby yard. The officer then ran after him, yelling at him to stop.
When the officer caught up to the suspect, the suspect spun around and punched the officer in the face. The suspect then began to punch and kick at the officer multiple times. Three other officers then arrived and it took all four to bring the male under control and apply handcuffs. Once arrested, he then spit blood on the same officer who had been punched.
The male suspect, Allan James Tutube, was charged with assaulting a Peace Officer, and theft from an earlier incident at Shelbourne Plaza. Tutube was held in custody overnight to appear today in Victoria provincial court.
The officer, a 16 year veteran and Traffic Safety Unit member, is at home resting from facial injuries and other aches and pains as a result of being assaulted.
12-5558