Langley RCMP were trying to wake up an unconscious man found behind the wheel of a stolen car when he suddenly tried to drive away on Friday, June 3.
Officers from Langley’s Special Response Team were in Langley City that day, looking for a BMW that had been stolen from Surrey on May 31st, said Cpl. Holly Largy, spokesperson for the Langley RCMP.
They were tipped off that the car was parked in the 20900 block of 50th Avenue, and that two people were sitting in it, asleep or unconscious.
Officers pulled up and boxed in the BMW with their vehicles so it couldn’t be driven away, said Largy.
However, the occupants of the car would not wake up. The Langley City fire department and BC Ambulance paramedics were called in and tried to rouse the occupants.
In the middle of this, the man in the driver’s seat woke up and allegedly started the car and tried to flee.
Members of the Special Response Team broke the driver’s side window of the car to stop him, and after a brief struggle, the driver was arrested.
Ryan Patrick Legarde, a 32-year-old Langley man, is being held in custody pending a June 13 appearance before a judge in Surrey Provincial Court.
Legarde was found guilty of a break and enter in Langley last August, and has had a number of prior arrests and charges.
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