Vancouver police are searching for a Good Samaritan who intervened after a suspect exposed himself to a woman and uttered threats in the Marpole area last month.
The incident, which happened Feb. 21 near the area of Granville Street and 71 Avenue, is one of at least four that have been reported in the neighbourhood since the victim posted about her experience on social media a day later.
On Wednesday, police said a 40-year-old suspect has been arrested for an indecent act and threatening, and that charges were pending. They would also like to speak to the man who intervened and allowed the woman to escape unharmed.
“We believe this Good Samaritan has information that will be helpful to the investigation, and we’re asking him and anyone else with information to come forward,” Sgt. Jason Robillard said.
Police would not confirm whether the suspect is linked to the other three reports of threatening behaviour in the area, saying only that the investigation is ongoing.
The woman, whose identity has been withheld at her request to protect her safety, told Global News she was leaving the Shell station on Granville and 70 Avenue around 8 p.m. when a man approached her while exposing himself.
“He was saying really horrible things to me like, ‘This is your day bitch’ and ‘I’m going to take you into the bushes and rape you,'” she said.
The woman backed away from the man but fell to the ground, continuing to scramble away while he advanced towards her.
“At some point, I guess he saw another guy coming towards us, and he went to take off,” she said. “But before he did, he said to me, ‘I’ll get you next time, bitch.’ And then he was gone.”
The woman later recalled what happened to her roommate, who told her she had encountered a man with the same description a few days earlier.
Since the woman posted her account to Facebook, two other women have commented saying they each knew a friend who had had a similar encounter with a man matching the same description.
Police say they are still working to establish links between the four reports they’re investigating, and won’t say whether the suspect they’ve identified is connected to all the reports.