The man arrested after an alleged carjacking in Victoria faces several charges stemming from a string of incidents on Monday (April 22) that ended with bystanders stepping in to subdue the suspect.
Seth Packer faces two counts of robbery and has also been charged with theft of a motor vehicle and failing to stop at the scene of an accident. He was also arrested and released a day before Monday’s incidents.
Victoria police were called by a woman just before noon on Monday who said she was getting in her car when an unknown man pushed her and drove off with her vehicle. After that incident in the 1000-block of Johnson Street, police said Packer hit another vehicle while driving through an intersection in Saanich.
VicPD said the man continued to drive after the collision and caused another crash minutes later. After that incident, Packer abandoned the vehicle he was driving before he allegedly tried to steal another vehicle. VicPD said bystanders heard a neighbour cry out for help as Packer was in the driver’s seat of the neighbour’s vehicle.
The bystanders removed Packer from the vehicle and held him until officers arrived, Victoria police said.
Packer was also arrested on Sunday (April 23) after he allegedly tried to steal an occupied vehicle on Shelbourne Street. VicPD said the owner physically removed Packer from the vehicle in that incident. From the April 21 event, he faces a charge of failing to comply with conditions, which were attached to a charge of attempted theft of a motor vehicle.
Packer is currently in custody pending a court appearance.