St. John's man, 35, arrested for smashing, stealing from parking meter near hospital

A man was arrested in St. John's on Thursday night after allegedlysmashing a parking meterand stealing the change inside.

The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary was called to St. Clare's Hospital around 7:40 p.m., after someone reported that aman was damaging and stealing from the meters near the hospital.

Officers pulled over a vehicle that the man was reported to have entered, but the suspect ran away once the vehicle was stopped.

The driver, a 33-year-old woman, was ticketed for not having insurance and failure to transfer ownership and the vehicle was impounded.

Then at 10 p.m., officers arrived at the house of the suspect, and arrested the 35-year-old man.

He was charged with mischief, theft and breach of court orders during a court appearance Friday morning. He was released under conditions and is due back in court June 18. He's also facing an unrelated theft charge.

Smashed parking meters have become a problem in St. John's recently, but police could not confirm whether the man arrested Thursday is suspected of being involved with previous damage.

No indication he damaged other meters

In court, CrownprosecutorPaul Thistletold court that the man is only charged with damaging one parking meter.

"At this stage, there's nothing to say that [he] is connected to the spate of meter vandalism," said Thistle.