Man charged in riot incident a hero, says grateful friend

VANCOUVER — One of the first men charged in the Stanley Cup riot should be hailed as a hero instead of having to defend himself in court, says a friend who was stabbed during the melee.

Sunny Jaura, who was knifed in the back in the 700-block of Hornby, said his friend Joshua Evans disarmed the man who was attacking Jaura and two others in their group.

Yet Evans is now charged with possession of a dangerous weapon after police arrived at the scene and saw him with the knife.

Jaura said it is upsetting to see that Evans, an engineering student in Calgary, is now being named as a criminal along with the man alleged to have attacked them.

Vancouver police named the 27-year-old student Monday, along with Edgar Ricardo Garcia, the 20-year-old Burnaby man charged with aggravated assault in the stabbing of Jaura and his friends.

Jaura said the three victims and Evans had been together throughout the afternoon and were trying to get away from the chaos when a stranger began stabbing them.

"Josh was there and he knew that the best thing to do was to get ahold of the guy and give him to the police. By doing that, he put his own life on the line. When he subdued the man, he had to take the knife out of his hand. You can's just subdue someone and leave the knife," Jaura said.

"Unfortunately the police only saw the end of that. They had their guns drawn. When you look at the evidence, we were friends and all together and Josh didn't do anything to us. It is just wrong."

He said he hopes the matter can be straightened out quickly.

"It is common sense. I was lying on the ground. The other two people are our friends and they were lying on the ground. Josh is our friend. Put two and two together and save the taxpayer some money here and do the right thing," Jaura said.

Evans is due to make his first court appearance Wednesday in Vancouver.

Already, 40 friends and relatives have written letters on his behalf, lawyer Matthew Nathanson said Tuesday.

"The police are under enormous pressure to bring people who have committed criminal acts that have enraged the community to justice swiftly. But unfortunately, sometimes in that haste innocent people get caught up in the torrent," Nathanson said.

"He is not only innocent; he was somebody who was acting in the best interest of the community. They should be pinning a medal on his chest."

And, Nathanson said, with the backlog in B.C. courts, if the charge goes forward it could be more than a year before Evans is able to clear his name.

Nathanson said Evans was strip-searched and held for 24 hours, then charged, before witness statements were taken.

"I am going to be speaking with the Crown because I want to give the Crown the full picture of what happened here, and I am hopeful that once they have the right picture, the Crown will do the right thing," Nathanson said.