Two Victoria police officers are recovering with serious but non-life threatening injuries sustained in two separate violent encounters over the weekend.
The first incident happened in broad daylight in Stadacona Park on Pandora Avenue just before noon Saturday.
Police were called to the park for a report of a man sleeping in the women's washroom and when they approached him, he attacked, injuring one of the officers.
The man then fled the scene as the uninjured officer treated the other. Police are still searching for the man, who remains at large.
The second incident happened Sunday in the 700-block of Johnson Street just after 4 a.m.
Police in the area stopped to speak with two men who appeared to be coming close to blows.
The officers noticed one of the males, who was known to them, was armed with a knife despite a court-ordered condition not to possess them.
That man dropped the weapon and fled and when the officers chased after him, one of them suffered a non-life threatening injury, according to police. The nature of that injury hasn't been disclosed.
The uninjured officer eventually caught up with the suspect, who armed himself with two hypodermic needles.
The man dropped another knife during the struggle, and both officers were eventually able to take the man into custody.
He's now facing charges including breach of conditions not to possess knives and not to possess drug paraphernalia.
Victoria police spokesman Bowen Osoko said violence against police officers has increasingly become an issue in the city.
"The reality is that our officers do get hurt in the line of duty," said Osoko. "Most of our officers are pretty humble, and they don't want to really go out and say 'Look, we were hurt,' and that sort of thing, but we have seen it increase."
The first incident happened in the same park, Stadacona, that a woman was sexually assaulted in last month.
No arrests have been made in that case and investigators aren't linking it to the Saturday incident, but police say they'll be stepping up patrols in the area.
