West Shore citizen recognized for their kindness

On July 29, West Shore RCMP presented West Shore citizen Verrinder Bharmota, with a Certificate of Appreciation, issued by Superintendent Todd Preston, the Officer in Charge of West Shore RCMP, for his act of kindness during a police call for service.

It all began on June 13, when officers were called to a report of two intoxicated youths that were wondering in an out of traffic on Jacklin Rd in Langford. Fontline officers, including Cst. Renner, attended the call and identified a male and female youth who were in no condition to care for themselves and needed to be transported back to their guardians.

The male youth was transported by police back to his guardian, but the female youth began suffering from an anxiety attack. After being assessed and cleared by BC Emergency Health Services, it was determined her condition was exacerbated by police and paramedic presence.

That’s when Cst . Renner called for a Taxi to drive the young lady home while he followed in his police car to make sure her guardian was able to care for her once she reached home.

The youth had no money to pay for the taxi and I offered to pay for it myself but, when Mr. Bharmota, the taxi driver, found out why we had called for a taxi in the first place, he was very kind and compassionate with the youth and refused to charge for the ride, said Cst. Renner, West Shore RCMP Frontline officer.

Mr. Bharmota arrived on scene and assisted paramedics with loading the female into his taxi, this took about 10-15 minutes given her condition. Mr. Bharmota drove her to her guardian’s residence and assisted her out of the vehicle and into the home with police following at a distance. Mr. Bharmota really did go above and beyond as police had very few options of getting the youth home without triggering another stress induced anxiety attack.

We wanted to thank Mr. Bharmota for his kindness and helping West Shore RCMP this night.