Vernon man snaps selfie in the middle of citizen's arrest

A Vernon man who caught an alleged thief wearing his stolen jacket earlier this week snapped a selfiewhile hemade a citizen's arrest.

Kevin Barkhousefound his truck ransacked when he went to take his kids to daycare on Monday morning.

"As soon as Igot in, Inoticed there was tons of crap on my seat and floor," the father-of-twotold CBC News.

Barkhouse realized several items were missing from the truck, including hiswallet, coat and gloves. He reported the break-in to police and made plans to drive to a nearby pawn shop to search for his belongings.

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Around 11 a.m., Barkhouseand his brother were driving through town when they saw someone wearing something familiar.

"I see some guy on the side of the road at a pay phone and he had a coat that looked exactly like mine," Barkhousesaid.

He stopped to talk tothe man about the jacketand asked him to empty his bag.

When Barkhousenoticed the man wasn't opening up every pocket, he decided to search for himself.

"I reached into it and pulled my wallet out," Barkhouse said."At that point, I was like, 'This is the guy who broke into my truck last night.'"

Barkhouse, who says he's trained in mixed martial arts, restrained the alleged thief while his brother ran into a nearby store to call police.

While waitingfor officers to arrive, Barkhouse took a selfiewith the man on the ground but he said he didn't take the photo for media attention.

"My opinion is,I got robbed and I got the guy. The cops didn't catch him, I got him.'" Barkhouse said. "I felt [the selfie] was in order."

Once Mounties arrived, they arrested the suspect without incident. Mitchell Sakowski, 25, is facing three charges in relation to the incident, including possession of stolen property under $5,000.

He remains in custody.

Citizen's arrests not encouraged byRCMP

Const. Jocelyn Noseworthysaid the RCMP doesn'tendorse citizen's arrests, despite the peaceful outcome ofBarkhouse'sintervention.

"If you see something suspicious or criminal, call us with that information," Noseworthy said. "In this particular case, we were very lucky no one was injured in the incident, but that's certainly something that can happen."

Canadians can legallymake citizens' arrests under specific circumstances, but the officer said people can get themselves into trouble if they go too far.

"You can be looking at charges in incidents like this when you do try and make a citizen's arrest just because you overstep your bounds," Noseworthysaid.

Despite that risk, Barkhouse said he's glad he intervened.

"For me, it feels amazing," he said. "Itwas an expensive coat and took days to earn enough money [to buy it]. Ican't afford to have people steal my property."

His wife, on the other hand, wasn't soenthusiastic.

"She thinks I'm crazy. The whole thing to her is pretty mind-blowing ... she's impressed but not impressed at the same time."