A man was arrested for launching his vessel quite a way from the water in downtown Nanaimo this past weekend.
Nanaimo RCMP were called out Saturday, March 15, at about 3:30 p.m., following reports that a person was throwing what they described as a "full-size plastic canoe" around the old Jean Burns property at the intersection of Commercial Street and Victoria Crescent.
“When members arrived they found an extremely agitated individual who was talking continuously. It appeared to members that he was having a mental health crisis,” said reserve Const. Gary O’Brien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesperson.
Despite officers' attempts to intervene and de-escalate the situation, the man refused to leave the pit at the property, which has remained undeveloped since the Jean Burns Building was destroyed by fire in 2016.
“Because of where the individual was, the officers were not able to access his location and given the volatility, they decided to continue to talk to him from a safe distance,” O'Brien said.
But when the man’s erratic behaviour continued and he climbed onto elevated concrete ledges, risking injury, police opted to use a bolt cutter to open a gate, arrested the 35-year-old for causing a disturbance and held him in a cell at the Nanaimo RCMP detachment until the effects of drug impairment wore off and an outreach team could be contacted.
O’Brien said the incident attracted response from a number of police and passersby.
“There was quite a number of people around, apparently. It caused quite the kerfuffle,” O’Brien said.
