Three men on the lam following July’s Dustball Dance violence were arrested this week in rather unlikely surroundings.
Two were arrested at Whitehorse International Airport after they got off a jet.
A third was arrested while hanging out at the city’s courthouse.
Michael Brereton, 21, of Whitehorse, and 27-year-old Jesse Ritchie, of Surrey, BC, were arrested Tuesday night at Whitehorse airport following a tip from the public, Sgt. Ross Milward, media relations officer with the Whitehorse RCMP, said on Friday.
“I don’t know whether they were turning themselves in, though I think they expected us to be there when they flew in, but I don’t know that for sure,” said Milward.
The two were arriving from Vancouver where police believe they have been lying low since the Dustball Dance in mid July, he said.
A third suspect, 27-year-old Calvin Hayes, of Surrey, was arrested Wednesday afternoon at the Whitehorse courthouse following another tip, said Milward.
“We don’t really know why he was there, but he was, and they phoned and we went over and got him,” he said.
The irony of Hayes’s choice of hangout was not lost on the Mounties — who were “very surprised,” to find him at the halls of justice, Milward added.
On August 3rd, police issued a Yukon-wide warrant for the arrest of Brereton, Ritchie, Hayes and a fourth man, 21-year-old Kevin Smith, of Surrey.
Police believe the men acted as a group and are responsible for four of five assaults at July 15th Dustball Dance.
Smith was arrested on August 23rd in Whitehorse.
A fifth man alleged to be part of the posse, 21-year-old Clinton Derkson of Surrey, had already been arrested and released when the arrest warrant was issued.
When police arrived at the Dustball Dance in the early morning hours of July 16th, they found several people fighting and one man lying unconscious.
Three people were sent to Whitehorse General Hospital following the violence, including one man with his bottom lip split open.
Two officers have been working on the Dustball case full-time, Milward said in a previous interview.
That investigation is now closing down and no further arrests are anticipated, he said.
“Five suspects have been arrested and that’s all that will be charged in connection with this incident,” Milward said.
Brereton is charged with assault causing bodily harm.
Both Ritchie and Hayes are charged with one count of aggravated assault and two counts of assault causing bodily harm.
All three men have appeared in court and have been released.