Three men were arrested and a bystander was bitten by a police dog following a crime spree in Vancouver on Tuesday.
Vancouver police said at around 5:30 p.m. officers spotted three men in a parking lot of the old Fraser Arms Hotel on Southwest Marine Drive, who allegedly broke into a home on West 37th Avenue near Granville Street. Police said the men were alleged to have committed similar crimes earlier in the day.
Two suspects were arrested without incident but a third fled the scene and tried to carjack a taxi, then tried to force a man out of his car at a nearby gas station, police said.
He was arrested by the canine unit and taken to hospital for treatment.
WATCH: A dramatic take-down of three break-in suspects last night in Vancouver, ended up with an arrest that injured a 75-year-old bystander.
Police said a police dog pursuing the suspect mistakenly bit a bystander in the leg.
Const. Jason Doucette said “a 75-year-old Vancouver man had exited his vehicle and somehow got between the dog and the suspect and our dog did make contact.”
Doucette said the man was treated in hospital and released.
Crown counsel has approved charges against three men — 40-year-old Graham Scott Beattie of Surrey, 42-year-old Harold Jason Gillis of Richmond and 34-year-old Joseph Leon Kidd of Vancouver.
Doucette said the Vancouver Police Canine Unit responds to about 7,000 calls a year and the matter is now under review.