An additional charge of assault has been approved against the man accused of trying to take a baby from two New Westminster parents last week.
Jamie Maclean, 46, now faces one count each of assault, assaulting a police officer and mischief.
The news comes one day after the baby’s father, Dustin Lawton, spoke about the random attack and called for more serious charges against Maclean.
“Imagine if he had punched my daughter, or if he actually got her out of the stroller … he could have easily killed her. For the cops to let him go, it’s just unbelievable,” Lawton told Global News on Wednesday.
“I want to see more justice … not an assault charge or a mischief charge.””
Lawton was walking with one-year-old Freya and her mother Amber at Carnarvon and 6th streets in downtown New Westminster around 7:45 p.m. on Jan. 14, when he said a man “fixed eyes” with them in the middle of the street.
“I tried to turn away from him and he jumped in front of me,” Lawton recalled. “He grabbed the stroller with two hands and tried to rip it away from me. He had the stroller right up off the ground.”
The New Westminster resident said Maclean attempted to grab Freya’s hood to take her, and that’s when he elbowed Maclean in the head and threw him.
As the suspect was being arrested, he allegedly spat on a police officer.
Maclean was released from custody on a promise to appear in court — which was also upsetting to Lawton.
“What’s to say he’s not going to do it to somebody else? Or if I run into him again, then what’s going to happen?” he said Wednesday.
In a Thursday news release, New Westminster Sgt. Sanjay Kumar said he was pleased, “Crown counsel has had a chance to revisit this file and approve an additional assault charge.”
Maclean was known to New Westminster police for “relatively minor files,” police confirm.