Headlines from the past is a recurring feature looking back at stories we've covered over the past 40+ years.
A would-be thief might have been reconsidering his career and lifestyle choices after trying to abscond with some personal effects from a Port Moody gym in March, 1997.
The out-of-shape bandit was facing several charges and his parole from a previous conviction was revoked after he was chased down by the owner of Gator’s Gym, Kai Heinonen, and one of its personal trainers, Monalee Blu.
The alleged thief was trying to get away with keys and a wallet he’d pilfered from Blu’s locker.
Blu had just finished an hour-long cardio workout when the incident occurred.
While Heinonen was tending to a prospective client who may actually have been a decoy, the suspect secreted into the locker room area, cut a lock and lifted Blu’s fanny pack that contained her car keys and wallet then left with his accomplice.
Blu noticed the theft immediately, advised Heinonen, and when they saw her car was still parked out front, but with a stranger in the driver’s seat, trying to get it started.
Blu ran out to confront the thief, and when he tried to flee, she kneed him in the groin, causing him to drop the keys. As she went to pick them up, the suspect hightailed it on foot.
Heinonen, who was watching the scene play out from inside the gym, immediately gave chase, joined by Blu.
They quickly caught their winded quarry and pinned him to the ground until police arrived.
“If I had to chase him to Timbuktu, I would have,” Blu told the Tri-City News.
“It was pretty wild,” said Heinonen.
The Tri-City News has covered civic affairs, local crime, festivals, events, personalities, sports and arts in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody since 1983. Bound back issues of the paper are available at the Coquitlam Archives, while digital versions of several past years can be found at issuu.com.
