Witnessing the arrest of a fugitive is scary

Published 12:30 pm Thursday, October 2, 2025

My four-year-old daughter and I were in a big box store the other day, and we were near the front of the store when we heard a commotion.

Before I could peek my head around the corner to see what was going on, I heard a police officer yell at someone to stop, and then some more crashing around.

The man beside me leapt into action to help. In that moment, I had to make a quick decision. The reporter in me wanted to turn back around and see what was going on. The mom in me wanted to remove my daughter from the situation.

It sounded scary, so I went down the aisle with her in my arms and headed in the opposite direction. Every fibre of my body was torn. Then a cashier ran beside me, looking awfully pale and darted into a back room, but not before whispering to me that she was scared. 

I heard the officer yell again to stop, and that this person was under arrest. I also heard him yell that there was a warrant out for their arrest.

I had recently written an article about a man who was wanted, for a fourth time, for breaching his conditions. I wanted to know if it was him, if I needed to update my article. But I knew I could follow up later, and I was concerned for my daughter’s safety more.

So we kept walking away in the opposite direction. I didn’t want to get in the way, and I didn’t want my daughter to be caught between a slippery criminal and a police officer if the chase was still on. I also didn’t want her to see something she didn’t need to witness, if things went awry.

We casually hung out in the plumbing department, I looked at my daughter, waiting for her to tell me she was scared or nervous. (There was quite a bit of yelling at that point and crashing noises.) But she looked at me and so calmly said, “Well, we can’t see anything from here.”

I guess she is my daughter. I just explained that the police needed to do their job, and it was best if we stayed out of their way. In the end, we heard that the person had been detained.

After we were done shopping, the employees were cleaning up some broken things, and the police car was gone. We checked out, and the cashier who had run and taken cover was back on the till. I asked her if she was OK, and she said she was alright. We made a joke about wishing for a calmer afternoon. It did seem like nothing had happened after that.

I suppose these things happen all the time, we just don’t always see them. Or in my case, hear them.

My daughter now says she wants to become a police officer because she wants to catch all the bad guys. I was worried about her being scared or the situation scaring her, but in the end, it only inspired her to want to keep our community safe.

In the end, it was the man who was wanted who was arrested again, along with another person. 

Police officers have a tough job, and we need to remember to thank them for doing that job.