David Chen, the "vigilante green-grocer" from Chinatown, showed up at Old City Hall this morning for his court appearance, but it was not his first stop of the day. Mr. Chen, as usual, got up at 4 a.m. and drove his truck to the Ontario Food Terminal to pick up produce for the Lucky Moose Food Mart, his Dundas Street West store.Yeah... I'm thinkin' "technical" is the least of your difficulties here.
The accused were ready, but the Crown Attorney, who has had 17 months to prepare this case for trial, (and who apparently did not get up at 4 a.m. today) stood up and told the judge, in courtroom 121: "We are having some technical difficulties."
In May of last year Mr. Chen’s video cameras caught images of a man stealing plants and fleeing on a bike. When the man returned an hour later, Mr. Chen and his brothers chased him, caught him, tied him up, threw him in a van and waited for the police.C'mon, Dalton, put this one to a jury... I dare you.
Toronto police did arrest the thief, Anthony Bennett, charging him with theft. But they also arrested Mr. Chen, 36, jailed him overnight and charged him with kidnapping, possessing a concealed weapon (the box-cutter he uses to open cases of produce) forceable confinement and assault.
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RELATED: Defend your own home...
...get sent to the slammer?
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"Why call the police?"