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Party bus brawler a no-show

NEW WESTMINSTER - A man who was to be sentenced on March 5th for his role in a "bloody and senseless" party bus brawl in Cloverdale in 2012 has failed to face the music for 70 days now.

 

Justice Murray Blok ordered a Canada-wide warrant for the arrest of Emmanuel Dario after he didn't show up for his sentencing hearing in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster.

 

"There is some information he may be out of the province now," Crown prosecutor Winston Sayson told the judge in March.

 

It was believed then that Dario might be in Alberta.

 

If it is indeed proven that he absconded, Sayson said at the

 

time, the Crown will seek to have him sentenced in absentia.

 

Dario's lawyer Mani Sandhu declined to comment.

 

Dario, 24, is thin, bald, black, six feet three inches tall, 179

 

pounds, and has brown eyes and a scar on his right arm.

 

Police are asking anyone who knows where Dario is to contact the Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502.

 

A jury found Dario guilty last year of two counts of aggravated

 

assault but not guilty of a third charge of aggravated assault and assault with a weapon.

 

The July 18, 2012 brawl erupted between recent high school graduates and Dario, a motorist who crossed their path behind a Husky gas station at 176th Street and Highway 10.

 

A charter bus carrying about 50 young people during an

 

after-grad celebration made a pit stop at the Husky Station at about 11:30 p.m. that particular Wednesday night.

 

"They're from all over Surrey, these youth," Surrey RCMP Sgt. Drew Grainger said at the time. "This confrontation quickly escalated violently and was fueled by a toxic mix of alcohol, testosterone and poor judgment."

 

Some young men, most of them 18 or 19 years old, were milling around in the back parking lot when a minivan drove up and all hell broke loose.

 

The minivan's windows were smashed in. Grainger said someone loosed a cloud of bear spray after the driver got out of his vehicle.

 

Roughly a dozen cop cars arrived at the scene, as well as five ambulances and two fire trucks.

 

Dario told the jury he had acted in self-defence after one of the party bus riders slashed his chest and others trashed his van.

 

tzytaruk@thenownewspaper.com



About the Author: Tom Zytaruk

I write unvarnished opinion columns and unbiased news reports for the Surrey Now-Leader.
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