Robert Mackay, victim of an assault and during the Vancouver riot during a press conference in Vancouver January 31, 2012.John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail
The trial of four men accused of assaulting a so-called Good Samaritan during the Stanley Cup riot in Vancouver in 2011 has heard that as soon as cars were set ablaze and store windows were smashed, there was little police could do to stop people from swarming into the downtown core.
Vancouver police Staff Sergeant Lee Patterson says police tried to disperse, rather than contain, the thousands of people who took to the streets following the Vancouver Canucks' Game 7 loss to the Boston Bruins.
Ioannis Kangles, Michael MacDonald, Carlos Barahona Villeda and David Leonati are facing charges for their role in the riot, and for assaulting Robert MacKay.
MacKay, who is expected to testify after Patterson, was beat up by a mob when he tried to stop them from looting The Bay department store during the riot on June 15, 2011.
Two men were convicted last May in MacKay's attack, which happened shortly after the Canucks lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final to the Bruins.
The violence that swept through several blocks of downtown Vancouver caused millions of dollars in damages as cars were burned, windows smashed and stores looted.