SURREY - A Cloverdale family that was terrorized by a trio of teenaged thugs is flummoxed by what the father characterized as an appalling lack of police response to their crisis.
Bill, who asked that his last name not be published for fear of reprisal, said the Surrey RCMP has yet to take statements from him concerning a frightening incident that unfolded behind Cloverdale Traditional School on Friday, April 18, where a teenaged boy held a knife to his brother-in-law's throat.
Bill said he and his wife, joined by the in-laws, were playing with their children aged five and six behind the school when they saw the thugs harrying an elderly man, who'd asked them to stop cursing, across the field.
"They were about to assault an older man and me and my brother-in-law stepped in to help him," Bill, 43, said. The three thugs, he said, were "maybe 15 years old." It was about 7:30 p.m.
Bill said one of the boys pulled out a six-inch-long buck knife and held it to his 28-year-old brother-in-law's throat. "It was so scary," he said. "These kids weren't afraid of anything." Bill said the boy held the knife to his brother-in-law's throat for about 20 seconds, "telling him they were going to kill him.
This grim standoff drew on while Bill called 911, telling the thugs the police were on their way.
Finally the three relented and left, yelling "C-N-G," presumably some kind of gangster slogan. "They kept yelling 'We're going to kill you,'" Bill said. He said he saw a patrol car and tried waving it down, but it went in the opposite direction.
"I ran around the entire school trying to flag them down." He said the delinquents were tall, white, and one of them wore bright red track pants and a black hoodie. Bill said his family went home, fearing the teens might come back. He said he brought the children into the house then called the Surrey RCMP's nonemergency line. Fifty minutes later, he said, a police car came to their home.
Bill said he told the officer the incident happened at the school about an hour earlier, and that nobody was hurt. He said the cop replied, "OK, I'm out of here. Cool beans."
"That was the last I saw of them." Since then, Bill said, he's gone "blue in the face" calling police "over and over," trying to get them to take a witness statement. "It's been almost two weeks now. I hope these kids don't kill someone's child," he said.
The Surrey RCMP has provided the Now with a written response on the matter: "Our officers did patrol the area immediately following the call received, however, were unable to locate the suspects at that time. We did speak to the complainant a second time that evening as well, as we were told he wanted an update on the case," the statement reads. "We have forwarded the concerns of the complainant to our Operations Officer, for his review and direction."
The Surrey RCMP receives more than 286,000 non-emergency and 911 calls every year.
Meanwhile, Bill said his brother-in-law has reached his own conclusions, telling him, after the dust settled, "This is exactly why I don't help people." tzytaruk@thenownewspaper.com