Skip to content

Mischievous graffiti artists, anti-SUVers, speeder among police calls in Oak Bay

Watch your wheels: Tyre-rants let loose on SUVs around municipality
29963885_web1_220802-OBN-Police-Update-Photo_1
The 104 service calls Oak Bay Police Department received last week included mischievous graffiti artists, anti-SUV vandals and a cyclist-winging door opener who forgot to shoulder check. (Black Press Media file photo)

Mischievous graffiti artists and anti-SUVers are running wild in Oak Bay this summer, topping off another week of speeders, impaired drivers and bicycle wingers.

The most notable of last week’s 104 service calls to Oak Bay Police Department included an 18-year-old who hit 96 km/h in a 50-km zone around Gordon Head and Cedar Hill Cross roads Wednesday (July 27), was fined $368 and lost his vehicle for a week. A day later, Greater Victoria School District staff had to scrub some spray paint after police stumbled upon offensive graffiti near Oak Bay High; no suspects have yet been identified.

Later July 28, a parked driver along Oak Bay Avenue forgot to shoulder check before opening their door and was fined $368 after hitting a passing cyclist, who required on-scene treatment from paramedics. Also that day, a Jeep driver stopped by police in the 2900-block of Beach Drive admitted to downing a few beers a few hours before driving, but was still impaired enough to earn a seven-day immediate roadside prohibition and lose their vehicle for a week.

Between Friday and Saturday, reports of nine different SUVs on Victoria Avenue, Quimper Street, McLaren Avenue and Falkland Road had tires popped in a co-ordinated strike by the Tyre Extinguishers group, which claims the vehicles disproportionately contribute to climate change. A thin Caucasian male with light brown hair in his early 20s drove away from one targeted SUV in a light blue car and is the current suspect in this ongoing investigation.

RELATED STORY: Activist group deflates SUV tires in Victoria, Oak Bay

July 30 also saw officers respond to a report of mischief at the Kiwanis Tea Room in Willows Park, in the form of two broken Adirondack chairs. To cap off the day, a fuel tank and gas were stolen from a parked boat on Thompson Avenue. The complainant said the fuel connector lines were severed, likely overnight, but police couldn’t identify a suspect there, either.


 

Do you have a story tip? Email: evert.lindquist@blackpress.ca.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.