ESCALATOR TAMPERING

TORONTO — Police arrested an elevator worker Monday for allegedly tampering with a Burlington, Ont., mall escalator during the recent elevator workers strike.

Officers were called when someone saw two men “acting suspiciously around an escalator” at Mapleview Mall on May 15, Halton Regional Police Det. Jared McLeod said.

"The two suspects proceeded to place several screws into the tracks of an escalator, causing it to stop and damage its threads," a police news release alleged.

While the incident did not present a threat to the public, it damaged property, McLeod said.

“What they did was throw these screws in and caused it to stop,” he said.“At that point there was no one to repair it.”

McLeod said one suspect was arrested Monday morning and the second has been identified.

“The hope is that we arrest him,” he said.

During the International Union of Elevator Constructors strike — which ended June 28 — police asked the public to be aware of people potentially tampering with building elevators.

John Dean Fournier, of Hamilton, Ont., is charged with one count of mischief under $5,000. The employee of Otis Elevator was released on a promise to appear and is scheduled for a court appearance in August.