Daven Tamayo

The story of Paul Palines, the Filipino fighter who stopped the Vancouver festival suspect

Article (news)

ABS-CBN News

In the beginning, the Lapu Lapu Day Festival was alive with joy. Families gathered, the smell of delicious food floated in the air, and the Black Eyed Peas lit up the stage as community members danced, sang, and celebrated Filipino culture. Initially, Paul Palines wasn’t planning to go, but a friend invited him a couple of days before.   They arrived just after 5 p.m. by bus. “We were just checking it out. There was a lot of people. Everyone’s having a good time.”   He had an ube bun. It was really good, he recalled. He wandered between food carts. He almost stayed longer in the middle of the street, almost bought a burger. But something pulled him away. “I had a gut feeling. I’m not too hungry. I decided to just head home instead, to get pizza on the way home.” A moment later, the festival became a scene of chaos and heartbreak. Paul was still on the sidewalk when he heard it. “I heard crashing. I saw all the food carts, sort of like shaking rapidly. Really fast. Violently. Then I heard all the screaming, and then a lot of people running away.” A black Audi had plowed through the crowd. Paul wasn’t hurt, but the screams told him something terrible had happened. “I saw the black Audi pulling up in front of me. It was already damaged, but I can still see the driver and the airbags, too.” Then, the driver got out. “He looked back, and then he started running away.” Paul didn’t hesitate. “The first thing I thought was I had to get after this guy before he goes. And by the time I caught him, I got his arm, I got a good look at him, too. And I told him, ‘Where are you going? You can’t leave.’” Paul didn’t know what he was running toward. He only knew he couldn’t let the man disappear. “There was instinct right away,” he says. “I remember watching a news clip, it was a similar situation. A drunk driver killed a family in their car, and then basically did the same thing. He decided to run away. Then there was a pedestrian who actually went after the guy and chased him down. That played in my head at the time, too. When I saw it happen, when the guy started running away, that clip I saw on YouTube clicked on my head right away.” Others followed. “Not too long, someone else came by and then later, the rest of the Filipino community came to congregate and started swearing at the guy. They were really angry, of course.” But Paul was still in shock. The adrenaline faded. The weight of what had happened began to settle in. He couldn’t see the street clearly, food carts blocked his view, but he knew what lay beyond them. “I knew right away it was really, really bad.” He caught a glimpse of a woman on the sidewalk. “There were two people already trying to revive her. But I can’t look because I know it was bad, so I just kept walking.” Paul believes that may have been his trauma response. “I didn’t want to see how bad it was.” What followed was confusion. He recalled that it may have been 10 minutes or so before police arrived. After catching the suspect, Paul stepped back, barely able to process what had happened. “I just went the other way.” At 33, Paul is soft-spoken but solid. Born and raised in Canada, the child of Filipino immigrants, he found his confidence through Muay Thai. “I’ve been training Muay Thai since 2009,” he says. He won his most recent event just a few months ago. “That was my recent accomplishment. I won the competition that night.” Martial arts changed his life. “Before, I used to not train and I used to stay at home, not do anything, just play videogames. It definitely helps my self confidence to stay fit.” After the tragedy, he still trains. Still runs. Still shows up to Muay Thai. “It’s helping me as well. I stick to my routine.” That routine is helping him hold it together now. He took a little time off from work and sought the counseling that was provided to survivors of the tragedy. “Because I couldn&#x27;t sleep. The news kept updating about the situation, and it was awful. I knew about the counselor through social media from a friend of friends. She reached out to me, and that&#x27;s how I met my counselor yesterday,” he shared. The weight of what he witnessed, the pain, the loss, has not lifted completely. “I’m just hurting,” he says. “Especially after everyone else that have loved ones lost their lives or fighting to stay alive… It was awful.” He tries not to replay it. But he can’t help it. “The experience was like on repeat in my head. Just on repeat, me catching him and getting a good look at his face.” In the days since, Paul has found himself in unfamiliar territory. People are reaching out. His bravery recognized. He didn’t expect any of it. “I feel like this experience, even though it was really bad, made me feel much closer with the rest of the community after what happened.” Friends from his gym thanked him. “They were very happy that I got the guy at least because, as they said, it’s the least I could do at the time.” Paul had never been to a festival like this before. “Usually, I go to my Muay Thai community and just go home… but this is my first time going to a big event like this.” He’d been having a great time, until, as he says, “It got ruined by this one guy that came out of nowhere.” Paul is still healing. Still processing. Still trying to sleep. But when asked if there’s anything that gives him hope after the tragedy, he was stumped. “I don’t know. I don’t know about hopeful. That’s a tough question. Can’t say right now.” Still, the act of running, of grabbing the driver, of saying the words “You can’t leave”, is a testament to something real: the strength of community, the force of instinct, and the heart of a man who never expected to be a hero, but became one anyway.

Meet Paul Palines, the 33-year-old who stopped the escape of the suspect who rammed a car through a Filipino festival crowd in Vancouver.

Meet Paul Palines, the 33-year-old who stopped the escape of the suspect who rammed a car through a Filipino festival crowd in Vancouver.

The story of Paul Palines, the Filipino fighter who stopped the Vancouver festival suspect

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The story of Paul Palines, the Filipino fighter who stopped the Vancouver festival suspect

ABS-CBN News,

Yong Chavez

Published May 02, 2025 04:28 PM PHT

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