Cop Pretends To Be Paralyzed To Catch Crooks, Finds Only Kindness Instead
By
Shehzad in
Bizarre
On 4th October 2016
Staff Sergeant Mark Horsley of the Vancouver Police Department wanted to bust some bad guys.
Since January 2014, someone, or perhaps several someones, had been assaulting and robbing disabled people in the city. If you’re incensed reading that, imagine how Horsley felt. Right in his own city, some creep was attacking vulnerable people.
To catch someone in the act, he figured the best way to catch a crook was to lure them into a trap — and he decided to use himself as bait.
With the aid of his fellow officers and specialists, he borrowed an electric wheelchair, grew out some scruffy facial hair, and headed into Vancouver’s rough, drug-infested Downtown Eastside (DTES) neighborhood.
It was a bold move. Since 2014, there have been 28 violent attacks on people in wheelchairs in Vancouver, and two-thirds of them were in DTES. Six victims required medical attention as a result, and one victim was sexually assaulted. As exciting as an undercover sting sounds to the average person, this was not a game.
But as dangerous as they might be, undercover operations can also stop crimes, make a place safer, and even save hundreds of lives at once.
And Horsley was shocked by what he found while scoping out the DTES from his borrowed wheelchair — but not in the ways he expected. Instead he found that even in this rougher neighborhood, there was a touching amount of kindness and care.
#1
Vancouver's Downtown Eastside neighborhood is a rough place. It's known for being plagued by homelessness, addiction, and poverty.
Drugs and prostitution abound, and to make matters worse, it seems as though some of the neighborhood's most vulnerable citizens, those with disabilities, have been targeted for attacks.
#2
Upon hearing of these attacks and their severity, Staff Sergeant Mark Horsley and his team decided to do something about it.
So he borrowed a wheelchair, made himself look unkempt, and staked out a street corner in the middle of DTES.
He even tried to bait criminals by flashing valuables like cash, credit cards, phones, and cameras, and told people he had a brain injury.
"My boss tied a pork chop around my neck and threw me in a shark tank," he said.
#3
But it turns out, the "sharks" weren't so bloodthirsty after all.
While anticipating robbery and assault, Horsley, seen here in his disguise, instead encountered kindness, charity, and concern.
"I did not panhandle," Horsley said, but people handed him change anyway. $24 worth of it, in total.
#4
Other people brought him food, including two men who bought him pizza.
Still others simply stopped for a chat and a kind word. They asked how he was doing, told him to take care, and offered simple words of encouragement.
Some even prayed for him.
#5
There was one time, when someone reached for the zipper of his fanny pack, that Horsley was sure they were about to bust someone after interacting with more than 300 people.
But instead, the young man zipped the fanny pack up, concealing the valuables inside.
He then told Horsley to be more careful with his belongings, for his own safety.
#6
Even individuals known as criminals to the VPD stopped by with nothing but good intentions.
Though their actions might not always be legal, to Horsley, it showed that even they had ethical standards, and would not stand for robbing the disabled.
#7
"Not one person took advantage of my vulnerability," Horsley said in a press conference. "This community has soul. The people of the downtown are watching. They take care of their vulnerable people."
Which is a heartening idea. Even amid the poverty and hardships that might be plaguing them, the people in this neighborhood still knew how to extend some kindness.
#8
The only thing that disappoints Horsley and his team is that they didn't manage to catch some of the perpetrators who might still be out there looking to prey on the disabled.
But maybe, thanks to his story, they'll avoid people in wheelchairs in the future, because they might be cops in disguise!
#9
The DTES is still in need of help for its homeless and poorer residents, but Horsley's undercover sting-turned-social experiment proved that people really do have good hearts deep down.
Navigating a troubled neighborhood is always difficult, but for Horsley and his team, this shows that there's still hope.
#10 To see what the security cameras caught, be sure to watch the touching video below.
