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A large number of police and cruisers converged on Main Street between Prior Street, just south of the Georgia Viaduct, and National Avenue around 6 p.m.
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Yellow Cab driver Harjinder Kang said he picked up two passengers from a shelter in the 2000 block of Yukon Street. The men, who appeared to be in their 30s or 40s, said they wanted to go to Main and Hastings streets and then to the TD Bank at Main and East Pender streets. At the bank, one man stayed behind in the cab while the other entered the bank. After the man went outside 45 minutes later, they asked Kang to drive them back to where they were picked up. As they were returning along Main, the police suddenly stopped the vehicle. “I was pulled over. The lights came on. They told me to get out of the cabin. They had their rifles pointed at the car,” Kang said.
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A section of Main Street was closed to traffic in both directions Thursday night. Kang got out of the car. One of the passengers got out of the cab after a few minutes, but the other man stayed in the vehicle. Vancouver police said in a news release that TD Bank staff called 911 shortly after 5:30 p.m. to report a robbery in progress. Police spotted the suspect attempting to flee in a taxi and stopped the taxi near Main Street and National Avenue. The driver and a passenger were able to get out of the cab, police said in a statement, but “the robbery suspect entered the taxi and refused to speak to police.” Police said the suspect was taken into custody around 7:30 p.m. by members of the emergency response team. Police said a police dog and a Taser were used during the arrest. Officers also deployed gas and a flashbang, which is a device “used to distract or frighten suspects when we’re trying to arrest them,” according to police. Kang said the two passengers he picked up were quiet and seemed like good customers. A truck tows a yellow cab away from the scene of a police incident on Main Street near National Avenue Thursday evening, Oct. 6, 2022. A bank robbery suspect had barricaded himself in the taxi earlier in the evening. Photo by Doug Quan /sun web bars 273092857 He didn’t see the aftermath as he went to a nearby convenience store. Later in the evening, a trailer was seen towing his cabin, the windows of which were broken. Not sure how this happened. “Luckily, no one was hurt.”
