New West police are seeking witnesses to an assault that took place near the New Westminster SkyTrain station early Saturday morning.
The New Westminster Police Department is asking witnesses to come forward following an assault at the corner of Eighth and Columbia streets around 12:15 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 22.
“A man was waiting for a taxi outside the New Westminster SkyTrain station when he was assaulted by four people,” said a NWPD press release. “The victim reports that he was kicked and punched, which resulted in him being unconscious for a short period of time. When he regained consciousness, he noticed that the contents of his wallet were missing and that his phone was damaged.”
NWPD spokesperson Sgt. Sanjay Kumar said the victim suffered minor injuries in the assault. He contacted police about the incident after returning to his home.
"He declined to go to the hospital," Kumar said. "Before we let anyone go we will make sure that they are of sound mind. It’s their right to decline. Of course, if our members feel like it’s something that the individual needs to be checked out for, we would strongly encourage them to be looked at by paramedics or even probably transport them to hospital just to be checked out.”
Police don’t believe the victim and the suspects knew each other. Anyone who witnessed the assault and hasn’t spoken to investigators is asked to call the NWPD at 604-525-5411.
“We have already consulted with Transit Police and we are looking to get any CCTV footage that they have in and around the area that might shed some more light on what led up to the assault and to identify these people that were involved,” Kumar told the Record.
According to a NWPD news release, one of the suspects was wearing a white jacket and another was wearing a black jacket.
“The initial report was that he was unfortunately attacked by four individuals, but he was only able to describe two of them,” Kumar said. “Understandably, lying on the ground, I guess he didn’t get a good look at the other two. The ones that stood out to him were the ones wearing the white jacket and the one wearing the black jacket.”
