Adam Johnson
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, August 29, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - Two Yellowknife residents are facing massive repair bills after $8,000 in damage was stomped into their cars in downtown Yellowknife.

Damage to the windshield, hood and antenna of Dave Williams' 2007 Ford Focus is estimated at $2,200. - Adam Johnson/NNSL photo

"It's a real shame that people in this town have to put up with this kind of behaviour," said Yellowknife rehab consultant Shawn Roper. "It's adolescent."

At least one 35-year-old man has been charged with two counts of mischief in relation to the incidents, which took place early in the morning Aug. 16. A second individual reported to have been involved had not been identified.

Roper said he was leaving a friend's going-away party at the Black Knight around 1:30 a.m. and planned to leave his car downtown overnight.

"There was a bunch of police standing around my car, " he said, and they were bearing bad news.

"The guy basically ran up the trunk, jumped on the roof of the car, caved in the roof, jumped on the windshield, kicked in the windshield, then kicked in the bumper."

He said the assailant did $6,000 in damage to his 2002 Honda Civic.

What's worse, Roper said this is isn't the first time this sort of thing has happened to him.

In 2004, a group of girls stole his car keys from his girlfriend's locker at Ruth Inch Pool.

"They went for a joyride down Kam Lake, rolled it and wrote it off," he said.

"Thankfully, this isn't a write-off."

Back at the scene of the incident, police told Roper a similar number had been done on another car.

That car was Dave Williams' 2007 Ford Focus. Williams is an Environment and Natural Resources worker and long-time Yellowknifer.

His front windshield was smashed, radio antenna removed and hood dented, all to the tune of around $2,200 to repair.

His daughter, Brittany, said she had parked the car downtown while she went to a friend's house.

When she came out, she said she saw two shirtless individuals take a brawl onto the hood of the car.

"I almost started crying," she said of her response to the sight. Fortunately, she said bylaw officers were on the scene quickly.

"What's this town coming to?" asked Dave, who has lived in Yellowknife since the 1970s.

He said he didn't know if his insurance would cover the damage.

"If it is, my policy will go up," he said. "I hope that guy has money."

RCMP Const. Roxanne Dreilich said the suspected assailant was released last week on a promise to appear in territorial court Oct. 23.

He will stand charged of one count of mischief over $5,000 and another for mischief under $5,000.

Dreilich said incidences of this type aren't on the rise in Yellowknife.

"We don't get an overabundance of this type of occurrence," she said. "The manner that the damage happened to these vehicles is certainly different to what we normally see."

While she said RCMP did get the odd report of rocks being thrown through car windows, she said the number of incidents were "par for the course."