Pipe, Car Used As Weapons

Delta high-school students are bracing for more violence after a brawl involving a metal-pipe attack ended with a vengeful driver mowing down three teens Friday.

Students who arrived at the scene shortly after the incident told The Province yesterday that the driver was retaliating because his friend was struck with a metal pipe in a clash between two large groups of teens.

One teen is in hospital with serious injuries and another is being treated for leg injuries, police said yesterday. Another teen was released from hospital with minor injuries. Police said the hit-and-run victims are between the ages of 17 and 19.

Calling the fight racially motivated, neighbourhood teens say they’re worried more violence is brewing.

“Supposedly, they wanna get revenge on the [driver], but they don’t know who he is,” said Brad Holmes, a 17-year-old who arrived at the scene shortly after the incident.

Problems began at about 10:35 p.m. Friday when about 20 white youths were walking down the 11500-block Lyon Road near Cougar Court after leaving a nearby party, students said.

Police have confirmed that the teens had been drinking.

The violence erupted when a group of Indo-Canadian males emerged from the area of nearby Seaquam Secondary School “looking for trouble,” Holmes said.

“They were looking for a fight, because they had metal pipes with them,” he said.

“One of the girls [in the white group] yelled something racist at them and the guys came over and started yelling at the girls,” said Mark Carlson, 16.

When one of the males in the first group tried to “break it up,” he was struck in the head twice with a metal pipe, students said.

Police weren’t sure of the precise timeline yesterday, but said that some time after the pipe attack, the driver of a ‘99 Chevrolet Cavalier allegedly ran down three members of the Indo-Canadian group.

“He wanted to get back at them,” Carlson said.

“The driver had girls in the car with him [and] he drove on to the sidewalk and hit them one at a time,” added Holmes, who said that the car’s windshield was cracked by the force of the collisions.

Broken beer bottles and shattered glass were scattered along the tree-lined street yesterday.

Const. Sharlene Brooks said Delta police have identified the driver as a 20-year-old Surrey man. He is not in custody and “charges are pending an investigation,” she said.

Brooks stressed that the two groups of teens were in the area “independent” of one another and insisted that the brawl was not racially motivated.

“That’s a stretch at best. This isn’t a meeting place for fighting,” she said.