On January 9th at approximately 0950 hours the PMPD responded to a complaint from a woman stating that she had gotten into an argument with her adult son while driving and that he had just smashed the dashboard and passenger door of her vehicle with a large 22oz hammer prior to fleeing on foot. The male was described as a 39 year old Caucasian male, approximately 6’4” weighing 240 pounds.

The male was quickly located by an officer as he fled along the 2400 block of St. Johns Street. The male began running from the Police and a Port Moody officer followed him on foot. The officer lost sight of him as he ran behind the Burrard Public House.

As our officer was rounding the corner behind the building another officer had entered the laneway from a different direction and found the male attempting to hide in an alcove. Based on the male’s stance it appears he may have been attempting to ambush the officer as he rounded the corner.

When the male saw the second officer, he raised the hammer above his head and charged towards the officer who was still seated in his Police vehicle.

While this occurred, the first officer had rounded the corner into the laneway, saw the male charging his partner, drew his firearm and gave the man verbal commands to “stop and drop his weapon.”

The verbal commands drew the male’s attention back to the first officer. The male turned and, with the hammer raised, began advancing on the officer. The male ignored the officer’s commands and continued to advance despite having a firearm pointed at him. The second officer exited his vehicle, drew his Conducted Energy Weapon (Taser) and warned the male that he would be tasered. In the midst of all this the male suddenly stopped, looked around, dropped the hammer and surrendered without further incident.

“This entire scenario could have ended quite differently had it not been for the restraint of the officers on scene. These Officers were faced with a difficult decision; they had a large, angry male with a hammer coming at them. A man who, despite having a gun pointed at him, showed no signs of stopping and was clearly intent on causing them serious bodily harm.  Fortunately the male surrendered at the last moment and no one was harmed.”

The male was identified as Curt MORZBY from Vancouver. Mr. MORZBY is now facing charges for Mischief, breaching his existing conditions, 2 counts of assault and 1 count of uttering threats. MORZBY was held for morning court.