‘Borocop’ breaks up attempted theft of bag
VANCOUVER Mark Borowiecki couldn’t have picked a better way to live up to his “Borocop” nickname over the weekend.
While taking a walk around Vancouver on Sunday, a scheduled day off for the Senators following a 3-1 loss to the Calgary Flames on Saturday night, the Ottawa defenceman foiled a robbery attempt in the Gastown district of this city of more than 2.5 million people.
After seeing a man smash a window and take a backpack out of a parked car, the 30-year-old Borowiecki, who grew up in Ottawa, told the person to put down the stolen goods. After refusing to do so, the individual then rushed Borowiecki on his bicycle. The rugged NHLER clothes-lined the man with his arm, wrestled him to the ground, and recovered the backpack.
Borowiecki was on the scene and took matters into his own hands, just like he does on the ice.
“I told him to give me the bag and he was telling me to get out of the way,” Borowiecki said, recounting the story after the Senators’ skate on Monday afternoon at Rogers Arena, where they’ll face the Canucks on Tuesday night.
Though it’s not clear if the culprit was detained, Borowiecki received a message from the Vancouver Police Department and was planning to speak with them when he left the rink. He said he didn’t know who the bag belonged to, but wanted it returned to its owner because it had “passports and stuff in it” that would be difficult to replace if the suspect had got away.
Borowiecki, who has never backed down from a challenge throughout his career on ice, says he was just happy to do his part and prevent the man from getting away without consequences.