Hockey stick-wielding man on rollerblades arrested after toque theft in Victoria

Rollerblades are pictured in this file photo. (iStock)

A rollerblading man who was acting erratically and carrying a hockey stick was arrested in Victoria after he reportedly chased a woman and stole her toque.

Police say they were first alerted to the man around 1:30 p.m. Monday when officers received a call about a man who was rollerblading and hitting garbage cans with a hockey stick.

Soon after, police received a second call about a man hitting downtown business windows with a hockey stick and generally causing a disturbance, though no windows were broken.

While officers were en route to the call, police say they received a third report of the rollerblading man.

This time, however, police heard that the man had chased a woman onto a sidewalk near the intersection of Government Street and Broughton Street. There, he pushed on the back of the woman's head and stole her toque, police say.

The victim was not physically injured in the incident and the man rollerbladed away from the scene, according to Victoria police.

VicPD officers were able to track the man to Trounce Alley, where he first attempted to "evade police by rollerblading around a police car."

Officers were able to catch the man on foot, however, and he was arrested without further incident, according to VicPD.

Police say the man was not injured during the arrest and he now faces recommended charges of robbery.

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call the VicPD non-emergency line at 250-995-7654 or contact Greater Victoria Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477.