Gary LaRowe was picking up his partner from Pet Valu when he noticed the suspect headed into the store.Dave Chan/The Globe and Mail
Gary LaRowe, who recently foiled a pet-store robbery in Ottawa, says he has been told most people in the same situation would have used their phones to record the incident.
Instead, he used a dog leash to tie up the man robbing the Pet Valu store where Mr. LaRowe’s partner works as a groomer, and held the suspect for the 2½ hours it took Ottawa Police Service to arrive.
Mr. LaRowe said the first officer at the scene last Wednesday asked for help with the suspect.
“The man was sitting in a chair. His hands were tied behind his back. [The officer] asked me for assistance to stand him up and remove the bindings from his hands and give him handcuffs,” he told The Globe and Mail on Monday.
Mr. LaRowe, 36, said the officer was impressed: “He’s like, `It’s not often you show up to a situation and the bad guy is already dealt with.’”
However, the Ottawa police have been more restrained in their official response to the incident, which has raised questions about whether members of the public should make citizen’s arrests.
Police said they appreciated the public’s vigilance, but do not encourage citizens to attempt arrests.
“If you witness a crime in progress, please call police immediately,” the force said in a Monday statement to The Globe.
The force also said it took so long to turn up on the scene because of a high volume of calls.
A 45-year-old man has been charged with five counts of robbery, disguise with intent and possession of a weapon, police said.
“Throughout the course of the investigation, it became apparent that the suspect was involved in multiple robberies in the area.”
The Ottawa Board of Trade declined to comment on the specific incident at the outlet of Pet Valu, a Canadian retailer of pet food and supplies.
However, the board’s president and chief executive officer, Sueling Ching, said retail theft in Ontario’s second-most populous city is becoming a significant concern for members, causing financial losses from stolen goods and rising costs associated with increased security.
Ms. Ching also said in a Monday statement to The Globe that the situation is making it tougher to attract and keep workers: “Some employees feel uneasy or unsafe in certain environments.”
Mr. LaRowe said there had been robberies in the mall targeting businesses, including the Pet Valu store. There were already surveillance photos publicly available of the suspect.
Last Wednesday, while Mr. LaRowe was picking up his partner from work and about to depart, they noticed the suspect headed into the Pet Valu, so they returned.
“When we came into the store, he was saying to the cashier, ‘Do you know why I am here?’ and she was complying with him. It was the same girl he had robbed a couple of weeks prior,” he said.
“I grabbed ahold of his wrists and I forced his arms behind his back, and I told him to give up and pulled him down to the ground.”
The group in the store made multiple calls to 911, explaining how they were holding the suspect.
While they waited for the police to arrive, the suspect had some things to say.
“He gave me a million excuses as to why it wasn’t his fault, and I should let him go and he would never come back,” said Mr. LaRowe, a U.S. citizen originally from Ohio. He now lives in Canada in hopes of obtaining permanent residency.
“I would never try anything like this in the States because the chances are much higher, more likely that somebody is armed,” he said.
“I’m not like some vigilante nut or anything like that. It’s just that this is the store where my partner, the mother of my child, works and this guy has been in there repeatedly, threatening the potential of violence on people.”
Rebecca Bromwich, a lawyer and professor with the Carleton University’s law department, noted in an interview that Section 494 of the Criminal Code allows members of the public to make citizen’s arrests.
The option is available if someone is committing an indictable offence or if a person has reasonable grounds to believe that person has committed a criminal offence and is escaping lawful authority. For example, Prof. Bromwich noted that security guards in stores often use such powers.
However, she cautioned members of the public to be careful in going down this path.
“In this case, it sounds like the police are praising the individual who did it, but you do run the risk of police taking a different attitude and being potentially charged yourself. And then there’s also the potential of civil liability if someone is injured while you’re arresting them,” Prof. Bromwich said.
She said she would rather see police making arrests: “It’s risky when individuals start doing it, they can hurt themselves. They can hurt others.”
Pet Valu is pleased with how things turned out.
“We are very grateful it ended safely, and we thank everyone who has reached out to the store and head office over the last few days,” Gaylyn Craig, the retailer’s chief retail officer, said in a statement.