Vancouver man charged with assaulting transit police officer has long history of violence
vancouver-man-charged-with-assaulting-transit-police-officer-has-long-history-of-violence
#Vancouver #man #charged #assaulting #transit #police #officer #long #history #violence,
A Vancouver man recently sentenced for attacking a stranger last fall, and assaulting a supportive housing worker earlier this year, has now been charged with assaulting a peace officer.
Described by police as a “high-risk violent offender,” Shakwan David Kelly, 30, was arrested by Metro Vancouver Transit Police (MVTP) on Aug. 27, following an “interaction” outside of Waterfront Station in Vancouver.
According to police, an officer with MVTP approached Kelly to discuss his open drug use, when the man allegedly charged at the officer, striking him in the face and body.
The officer was treated in hospital for minor physical injuries.
Police said Kelly was tasered during the incident, but the weapon had no effect and the man ran away.
Kelly was arrested a short distance away, with help from transit security officers and Vancouver police.
A Vancouver man with a history of violence, including the random assault of four people in 2022, has now been charged with assaulting a transit police officer.
Courtesy: Metro Vancouver Transit Police
On July 16, Kelly was sentenced to 11-and-a-half months in jail and two years’ probation after he pleaded guilty in May to two separate assaults, uttering threats and breaching his release order.
Get daily National news
Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
With credit for time already spent in custody, he had 39 days left to serve.
Kelly remains the subject of a three-year probation order following the time served sentence he received in March 2023 for pleading guilty to four random assaults in the span of one month in 2022.
During his sentencing on July 16, the court heard Kelly had recently refused his injection for schizophrenia and was subject to a Mental Health Act (MHA) warrant.
Both Crown and defence counsel said Kelly, who was certified under the MHA, would be taken to hospital upon his release from custody.
Court also heard Kelly was on a wait list to get into the Red Fish Healing Centre, a provincial facility in Coquitlam for clients with complex and concurrent mental health and substance use disorders.
Kelly’s lawyer noted the wait to access the 105-bed facility can be anywhere from two months to a year, but told the court that his mother remains a strong source of support, and was doing everything in her power to get her son the help he needs.
Kelly remains in custody ahead of a bail hearing Sept. 4 on the new charge.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.