The father of a 15-year-old girl who says she was assaulted and spat on by a security guard in North Vancouver hopes the guard is charged and loses his job.
But North Vancouver RCMP say there are still many unanswered questions about what happened, and are still looking to identify all the people involved and speak to potential witnesses.
The confrontation between the security guard and a group of young women at a Lynn Valley McDonald’s was caught on video. The 15-year-old’s father posted the video to social media before sending it to the media.
The 19-second video appears to show a male security guard hitting, shoving and apparently spitting on a young woman.
The father, Dillan Simard, told Global News Saturday he got the video from one of his daughter’s friends who began filming after the initial assault.
Based on his daughter’s account, Simard said she and her friends were looking for another friend at the McDonald’s in the Valley Centre. When they didn’t find her, they began to leave. That’s when they noticed the security guard behind him.
“They asked why he was following them, and then the guard started yelling at them to get the F out,” Simard said.
The guard then allegedly hit Simard’s daughter, then pushed her and another friend through a door outside. That’s when the video starts.
Simard said he doesn’t believe his daughter or their friends provoked the guard.
“There was definitely yelling, but there was no pushing, no punches thrown his way or anything like that,” he said.
After learning about the incident from his ex-wife, Simard eventually saw the video, which he later posted.
“It’s definitely upsetting as a father to see my firstborn getting a punch thrown at her by not only a man, but an older man,” he said.
The building manager had told Global News that security at that location has had trouble with a group of kids recently, and has been in contact with RCMP.
North Vancouver RCMP spokesperson Sgt. Peter DeVries says police are investigating, but wishes those who had video reported it to the police first before posting it online.
“Whenever there’s a crime or there appears to be a crime involved, we always ask people to bring that information to us and allow us to investigate these things properly,” he said.
“Our ultimate goal is community safety, but also to protect youths. In the context of this situation where there are youths involved it would have been a lot better for us to be involved earlier on … so we could handle it in a way that’s sensitive.”
DeVries says he doesn’t believe police have identified the security guard or the other teens, and are hoping to speak with everyone involved to determine what happened.
“We wouldn’t be putting out identities or anything like that unless charges are laid or we come to some sort of determination in the case,” he said.
Simard says he posted the video to social media before going to police because he “didn’t want it to be swept under the rug” and wanted advice on how to proceed.
He’s hopeful the RCMP investigation will lead to consequences for the security guard.
“I believe he should be charged with assault, definitely his security license should be revoked,” he said. “He definitely doesn’t have the temperament to be a security guard.”
He also said CCTV video from the mall — which DeVries confirmed is being investigated — will also help the facts come to light.
“I told my daughter, there’s going to be video so you need to tell me the truth,” Simard said. “I’m confident she did.”
—With files from Jordan Armstrong and Srushti Gangdev