bear spray attack

;;
Saw some dudes get bear maced today, on my bike ride home.
I followed the guys who did it, then dialed 911. I saw some police so I got off the phone and flagged them down.

I was stopped at the corner of Davie and Denman on my bike.
I saw two guys in the street, near a car (black VW Jetta).
One of the guys said "Whassup?!" in a loud, aggressive way.
I then saw a big spray of cloud suddenly emerge from that area.
The guys then walked off.
I wasn't sure what had happened at first. I thought maybe the people in the car had maced them. Then I thought maybe the pedestrians had maced the people in the car.
I thought of leaving briefly, continuing on my way. But For whatever reason I decided to make it my business to investigate.
I thought something serious may have just happened. I decided to make it my business. (I have a bad habit of getting involved in other people's problems).
I approached the car on my bike. As I did, a guy got out of the car and crossed the street to the opposite side. He was in a crouched position, with his head on the sidewalk and his head in his hands. I tried talking to him, asking him if he had just gotten maced. He didn't hear me. I asked two more times, and he still just acted as though I didn't exist. I guess he was too caught up in the pain to notice me.
Anyway, I concluded he did in fact get maced, and I decided to pursue the guys who did it.
I saw the black jetta drive forward, which kind of surprised me, because I didn't think anyone could necessarily drive. They pulled over. I biked to the left of them and could smell the bear mace. I kept on biking past.

I lost sight of the two guys. I thought they were both wearing black shirts. I thought that one of them had shorter sleeves than the other.
(I ended up mis-identifying one of them later; I thought a guy who was in the bathroom with a black tank top on was one of them).
I knew the area. I looked ahead down the block and didn't see them. Not much time had gone by, so I knew they couldn't be far. Since they weren't straight ahead, I concluded the only direction they could have gone was down the stairs, to the beach area. So I got off my bike and walked my bike down the stairs, to find them.
I looked around and couldn't see them. I concluded they probably went to the bathroom area, since that was the only area I couldn't see clearly. (You could see pretty far in all directions, left, right and centre). I approached the bathroom area and saw the bathroom but also some stairs that went up. The stairs just went back up to the sidewalk on pacific st., so I concluded they didn't go up there. I figured they were probably in the bathroom.
I approached the bathroom carefully on my bike. I remembered that they had some kind of spray on them, so I didn't want to take any risks. I got off my bike and cautiously walked up the stairs and looked into the bathroom from a short distance. I saw a guy walking to my right-ward direction in the bathroom, who had what looked like a canister of bear mace in his hand. It looked like bear mace because of the shape of the bottle, and how he was holding it with his right hand. (I own one of them, so I know what they look like, and how you hold them).
This was all the evidence I needed to know it was them and that they were in there, so I called 911 and moved a distance away. I got on my bicycle and rolled away a bit. I didn't want them to know I was calling 911 and that I was paying attention to them.

Before I walked down the stairs to the beach, I saw two police cars parked on pacific st., in front of the cactus club. I thought there would be some officers inside. I kicked one of the doors of the car to see if it would set off a car alarm and get their attention, but nothing happened. I didn't want to kick too hard, because I felt kind of timid about doing so. So I continued down the stairs.
At some point during my 911 call, I decided I would roll over to the cactus club to see if there were any cops inside. I figured this would be faster than waiting for the 911 dispatcher. It was a risk though because I would lose sight of the bathroom, and the guys might leave while I was away and didn't have full view. (I.e. they could go up the stairs back to pacific st.). I looked into cactus club but didn't see any officers. I thought maybe they were plainclothes.
Then to my surprise I saw 3 officers walking at a brisk pace north on the beach sidewalk. I thought maybe they had heard on the radio what happened. I biked up to them and got their attention. I can't remember exactly what I said, but I basically asked them what they were doing and if they were looking for guys related to the pepper spray incident that I told them I had just witnessed. They said yes. I told them, they're over there, point back in the opposite direction they were headed. They seemed to not register what I said and just kept walking. I believe I had told them that I saw it happen, and they did not register; this puzzled me. I eventually blurted out, "I know them! they're over there!", and told them they're in the bathroom. I didn't actually know them but this somehow clicked in their minds and they turned around and paid attention.
We turned around and headed back that way, and I saw what looked like the two guys exiting the bathroom, headed south. I pointed them out to the cops and said, that's them right there, those two.
One of the male cops started walking a little faster, getting focused, then going quickly, kind of jogging speed. He drew his gun, and told one of them to get down on the ground. Another cop then arrested the other guy, and handcuffed him. Eventually the first guy was handcuffed, but not until some time later.

I thought they had arrested one of the wrong guys though, and said that the other guy was still in the bathroom. I thought that both of the guys had been wearing black shirts, but one of the guys was wearing a dark green shirt, it looked like. (It was night, so it was hard to tell). The cops said they found the bear spray on one of the guys they arrested.
I was kind of emphatic on this point, and the cops eventually headed in there to arrest the other guy. They didn't seem that concerend at first, because they figured they apprehended the guys. They went into the bathroom though and one of the cops had his gun drawn, and carefully went in there. He shouted at the guy to surrender a bunch of times. It was kind of tense and I was worried, so I followed them in, filming with my phone... just in case the cops were going to shoot someone for some reason.
Anyway, the 3rd guy was arrested but it turns out he was just some homeless guy. I totally thought he was the guy who I saw carrying the bear spray, though. I guess I was wrong. The 3rd (homeless) guy was wearing a black tank top, so I thought he was involved. I felt pretty sure that they were both wearing black shirts, and that one of the shirts had shorter sleeves. But I was probably wrong about this too. I guess this guy (white guy; the two other dudes who were arrested and who were apparently responsible were asian) was someone I saw who was in the bathroom, but who wasn't carrying the bear spray can. He was just in the bathroom at the same time as the two asian guys, and I somehow concluded he was one of them.

The 2nd guy with the green shirt, I was told by a police officer, knew the 1st guy. I was surprised because I thought he was uninvolved and they had arrested him wrongly. But I guess it turns out he was the 1st guy's friend.

Side note: I felt really weird about this. I know from studying psychology that memory can be faulty. But I was still kind of dismayed by this. I had an event happen in my life quite recently where I mis-remembered something, and was quite disappointed when I learned the truth. I realized that my memory can, in fact, be faulty. This was within the last couple weeks. So when this happened, I wasn't altogether surprised. But I was quite dismayed. And a little bewildered.

I wanted to get a closer look at the guys involved, but I also didn't want them to get a good look at me, since I was the one who ratted them out. I didn't want one of them to recognize me again in the street one day.
So I put on my hood and rolled in their general direction on my bicycle, just kind of casually looking at them. Then I biked off again.

I biked up to the top level. I got a look at the victims for the first time. I also got a closer look at the white dude, whom I believed to be responsible still at this time. I got a good look at him and concluded he was the one I saw in the bathroom with the bear mace. As I said earlier, I think I did see him in the bathroom, but mis-identified him as the one carrying the mace.
The victims were 4 or 5 Irish guys. Some of them didn't get sprayed badly but some of them were visibly messed up. The fire truck showed up and the lads had been rinsing their eyes and faces for quite some time continuously, but they still were visibly uncomfortable. As they looked bettr than before, one of the cops asked them how they felt. One of them replied, "like total shite". We laughed. He looked alright but apparently was still in pain. Another guy said, it was an interesting experience to be maced once, but never again.
I asked them what happened and they said the guy said "Whassup", then they said what's up back, then the asian guy said one more thing, then just spontaneously sprayed. There was no apparent provocation. I thought this was really weird. Bear spraying someone in the first place is intense and awful, but without any reason? Seems really crazy to me.

I had this nervousness kind of feeling afterward. The feeling I tend to get after a confrontation or fight with other people. A feeling you get after a big spike of adrenaline. Something I find rather uncomfortable. It's a "high" that I find it hard to come down from.

This is the second time I've called the police in a week. The last time was because of a guy who road raged on me near my house, when I was on my bicycle. I feel weird about calling the police, due to my background in activism, general attitudes towards the cops, and anarchist sensibilities.
I didn't really have any hesitation this time though. The thing I saw these guys do with the bear spray seemed pretty unconscienable. I didn't see why they should get away with it; I thought it would be too bad if they did. I didn't really have any sympathy for them.

Due to my bad memory in this situation, I decided I would try harder to "be a good witness" next time. Take mental note of everything I see more carefully, as it's happening. In particular, take note of details as much as possible, including what people's faces looked like when I see them carrying bear spray. And what their clothing looks like, specifically. If you don't take active mental note, you won't remember (well). Sorta remembering is also not the same as remembering concretely and definitely. When someone asks you a question, kinda sorta knowing is not the same as being able to tell someone with certainty what is a fact.

Also, the cop chick I talked to about what I saw was kind of cute. She studied psychology too, apparently. She had a decent, likeable personality. Almost too nice a woman to be a cop.