RCMP posts video of dine-and-dash wannabe falling through Burnaby restaurant ceiling
Posted Oct 29, 2020 8:29 am.
Last Updated Oct 29, 2020 1:51 pm.
BURNABY (NEWS 1130) – A woman who was seemingly trying to skip out on a bill at a restaurant in Burnaby fell into police officers’ hands.
While the attempted dine-and-dash happened in March, the Burnaby RCMP only posted video of a woman dropping from the ceiling into a kitchen while apparently trying to “dine and dash” on Thursday, Oct. 29.
“We got a call from a manager of a restaurant up near Metrotown stating that one of their patrons didn’t want to pay their bill. So, they went to the ladies’ room and began to climb into the vents in the ceiling,” Cpl. Michael Kalanj tells NEWS 1130.
This dine and dasher just dropped! Trying to skip out on the restaurant bill, she crawled above the kitchen cieling from the washroom. Luckily she wasn’t hurt when she fell through the cieling tiles and landed right in front of our #BurnabyFrontline officers! #Gravity #Foundyou pic.twitter.com/eJYC1jIod3
— Burnaby RCMP (@BurnabyRCMP) October 29, 2020
He says when officers arrived, they started looking for the woman, and could hear some things happening in the ceiling.
“And, as you can see in the video, she dropped in on us and made it easy for us to find her,” Kalanj adds.
The video shows debris falling from the ceiling moments before the woman is seen crashing to the ground, landing right in front of staff and officers, who then walk up to her.
“It looks to us that she just didn’t want to pay her bill, and once she was in the bathroom, I guess she didn’t know any other way of getting out past the manager or the employees and decided, somehow, that that was the most logical way to get away from paying her bill,” Kalanj says.
.@BurnabyRCMP tell me this happened in March (hence lack of masks/distancing) but officers only saw video recently. The manager of restaurant, near Metrotown, didn't want the woman charged so officers had a "stern conversation" with her and "took some other avenues." @NEWS1130 https://t.co/FBGUg7i9ap
— Monika Gul (@MonikaGul) October 29, 2020
It seems the woman’s fall was punishment enough. While she was initially arrested by officers, Kalanj says the restaurant manager didn’t want the woman to face any charges.
“We had some stern conversations with the lady and took some other avenues, which we won’t go into because there’s no charges,” he explains. “We’ll take it as a reminder to everyone that this is not safe, first and foremost. She could have gotten hurt really badly in this situation.”
The woman wasn’t physically hurt, although she likely suffered a “bruised ego,” Kalanj says.
On why the RCMP posted the video several months after the incident actually took place, Kalanj says officers only came back across the footage recently, and wanted to help bring a little levity.
