THURSDAY
SEPTEMBER 21, 2017
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Amber alert hits close to home TIFFANY LEPACK
tlepack@metroland.com
It was like something out of a movie. Friday, Sept. 15, a Dacre couple watched a wanted man get arrested in their backyard. Barb and John Friske were at their home on Hwy. 132 between Dacre and Eganville when they heard what sounded like someone with a flat tire drive on to their property. “We went to see if he got hurt,” said John. “The police started yelling at us to go back in the house, go back in the house, so we went in.” Barb then pointed at the garage and told the officers who were looking for a man in relation to an Amber Alert that spread across Quebec and Ontario that it was open. John said it just clicked they were looking for the wanted man from Quebec. “Then I saw him out our bedroom window climbing over the fence and dragging the young lad. I told the cops and they started to yell at him to get down,” said John. “He had a stick over the young lad. They tased him and he dropped.” John then watched as a female officer went and grabbed the boy. “He was crying. He was terrified, but he didn’t physically look hurt,” said John. “It was heartbreaking to see that. His face was red and you
could tell he had been crying.” Barb gave the boy a freezie and then they were gone. Although the pair did not look at their watch, John estimates the whole ordeal only lasted about five minutes, beginning at approximately 4:45 p.m. He says there was a minimum of a dozen officers on scene with cars, SUVs and two helicopters. “It was quite a blast of adrenaline,” said John who never feared for his own safety because the amount of police on hand. “It was fast, it was something like you see on television or a movie. I’ve never seen anything like that and I hope that it doesn’t happen again.” The man, whose name is not being published to protect the identity of the child, has now been charged with second degree murder in the death of his partner, the boy’s mother. She was found dead in her St-Eustache, Que., home last Thursday, Sept. 14, which triggered an Amber Alert for a missing six-year-old boy. The alert spanned hundreds of kilometres and lasted until the man was arrested and the boy was found safe in Dacre, outside of the Friskes’ home. The second-degree murder charge was filed by Quebec prosecutors in Saint-Jérôme court Monday. The suspect remains in an Ottawa hospital. For more on this story, see page 3.
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Ruckin’ it up
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Ruck 2 Remember’s Road to Recovery made an overnight stop at Royal Canadian Legion Branch 148 in Renfrew on Friday, Sept. 15. Renfrew’s Bill McLeod joins, Nathan Desborough, Dave Merriott, Phil Owen, Lino Di Julio, and Noel Gracie. Ruck To Remember is an organization that serves as a tribute and support to those who have served as a front line responder or military in the present, past, and future. Their flagship event every year is the Road To Recovery, and this year the event once again came to the Ottawa Valley to raise awareness for veterans and funds for Operation: Leave the Streets Behind, a veterans charity managed by the Royal Canadian Legion. The group embarked on the 150-kilometre weighted ruck march from the Petawawa Legion Sept. 14 and wrapped the fundraising journey on Sept. 17 at the Kanata Legion. For more photos, see page 43.