Kelowna handyman chases down attempted package thief

A Rutland neighbourhood in Kelowna, B.C., became the scene of an unexpected chase this week after a handyman working nearby confronted a suspected package thief, all caught on video.

The incident unfolded Tuesday, shortly after a delivery van dropped off a package at a home and pulled away. Pavel Parviz, a general contractor with Woodex Construction, says he noticed a man following closely behind the driver.

“The delivery van just pulled over, left some packages, just pulled out, and the guy was following him,” Parviz said.

“It was kind of funny because it was right after Christmas,” he said. “The first thought that hit me was that he looked like a Grinch, to be honest.”

Video shows the suspect grabbing a package and attempting to leave. Parviz says he confronted the man.

“He said it’s his package. I said, ‘No, it’s not yours,’” Parviz explained. “I tried to grab the package from him. He started fighting, so finally I was able to take the package away and kind of push him away.”

But the encounter didn’t end there.

Parviz says the man managed to regain control of the package and tried to flee a second time. That’s when Parviz chased him down and restrained him near the road.

“I ran this way, ran after him, got to restrain him over there at the road, and took the package away from him again,” he said.

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Footage shows Parviz walking away with the recovered package, but moments later, the suspect can be heard yelling and throwing rocks before leaving the area. At one point, a voice is heard shouting, “You’re gonna get shot.”

“He got out and started shouting at me, ‘gonna kill you,’ or something like that,” Parviz recalled.

In an ironic twist, Parviz says he was in the neighbourhood consulting with another resident about installing a secure storage box system designed to prevent package thefts.

“It’s like an anti-theft box, I build it myself,” he said.

Parviz, a former border patrol agent in Uzbekistan, says the confrontation didn’t faze him.

When asked whether the incident scared him, he laughed it off.

“No, I guess not,” he said.

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