Photo: Elizabeth Sakal
When Elizabeth Sakal saw a dog in the cab of a truck with the back windows slightly open during this week’s heat wave, she felt she had to do something.
What he didn’t expect was a violent confrontation with the dog’s owner.
Szakal says she was at the Salmon Arm Canadian Tire store on Tuesday when the incident happened.
“I had the store try to ship it. When he finally got out I told him it was too hot to have a dog in a car. He ignored me, put his purchases in the truck, then closed it and casually went shopping (elsewhere),” says Sakal.
Szakal was told it would be some time before the SPCA could respond and they advised her to call the police, which she did.
“When he came out I told him the cops were coming and he tried to walk across the median to leave before the authorities or the SPCA arrived. I stood behind the truck so he couldn’t leave without having to speak to the SPCA. He was backing into me so I hit the back of his truck.
Sakal says that in retrospect, blocking the truck may not have been a good idea, as she could have been seriously injured.
While she was recording video on her cell phone, the man got out of the Dodge pickup and tried to grab the phone.
“He tried to rip the phone out of my hand,” Sakal says.
She claims the man grabbed her right arm.
“He was controlling my right hand so I started punching. I threw him on the ground and sat on him,” says Sakal, who practices judo. “I was screaming for help because he was the one who came at me.”
In the video, the man can be seen approaching Sakal, telling her to leave while uttering profanities.
The man then goes back to his truck, but Jackal refuses to budge, so the man gets out of the truck again, swears at Jackal again, and appears to grab her camera.
The 28-year-old said she fought back in self-defense and was left with several bruises from the altercation.
When RCMP arrived, Szakal said she was told the altercation was consensual and no charges would be laid.
On Thursday, Sakal went to the Salmon Arm RCMP detachment with his father to press charges.
“I didn’t expect it to get this bad and I would never try to stop someone from leaving again because I could have been hurt and I realize that now,” she said.
Castanet has reached out to the Salmon Arm RCMP for comment.
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