'That doesn't look right': Neighbour intervenes after seeing man lift package from doorstep
'I would like more people to step up and do the same,' says Brenda Okimaw, who stopped car to question man
When Dr. Montana Halliday came home Wednesday afternoon, she was astounded by a video her husband Greg showed her that was captured by their doorbell camera.
Around noon that day, 62-year-old Brenda Okimaw, a retired neighbour the Prince George, B.C., couple had never met before, saw a man take a large box off their front doorstep and run across the lawn to put it in a shopping cart he had been pushing down the sidewalk.
Okimaw pulled over in front of their house and rolled down the window.
"I thought, 'oh that doesn't look right,' so I stopped," said Okimaw, who was on her way to run some errands.
Watch as the man takes the package, then returns it after being questioned by Okimaw:
She asked him if the box was his, and he told her that the couple gave it to him, she said. However, Okimaw didn't buy it.
"He kind of looked at me, and he hesitated for a second, and I said I'm calling the police," Okimaw told Radio West host Sarah Penton.
After that, the man turned around and returned the package to the doorstep and took off down the street.
Halliday and Okimaw meet for the first time at CBC's Prince George studios:
Not certain the box and the other parcels in the mailbox were safe, Okimaw gathered them all and took them to a neighbour's house to watch over them.
The neighbour wrote a note and when Okimaw returned to put it on Halliday's door, she thought she'd try knocking on it. To her surprise, Halliday's husband had just come home and answered it, so she explained what happened.
'We were just floored,' says Halliday
At first when Halliday's husband texted his wife the video of the package theft recorded by their doorbell camera, she was confused, but after coming home and watching it with the sound on, she was shocked.
"We were just floored by how much Brenda did. I mean I know she doesn't think it's a big deal, but I think most people, if anything, would have just stopped at telling him to put the box back," said Halliday.
The box was a Good Food Box, and the packages were a Christmas present for her husband.
"I think the man who was stealing things obviously doesn't have the best life and is doing that to get by and is likely homeless. So I can't relate to what that would be like," said Halliday.
"I thought [Okimaw] was really compassionate and kind, but firm with how she spoke to him ... I thought that was really admirable as well."
After watching the video, she wanted to properly thank Okimaw, so she posted pictures from the video in local Facebook groups to try to find her.
"It was amazing to see that everybody instantly was like, 'oh that's Brenda and Brenda is amazing,'" she said.
"I think it's a pretty big testament to who she is."
Okimaw's former co-workers at Telus messaged her to let her know that Halliday was looking for her. On Wednesday afternoon, both women met for the first time at CBC's Prince George studio.
Okimaw is overwhelmed by the response this story has received on social media.
"I would like to think that a lot of people would have stopped and at least said something," she said. "If they don't, I would like more people to step up and do the same, do the right thing."
With files from Sarah Penton, Andrew Kurjata and Radio West