A 47-year-old man who RCMP say was acting “erratically” in a Nanaimo intersection suffered several puncture wounds when a police dog was used to take him down Monday morning.
It happened at around 9:20 a.m. near the intersection of Albert and Cavan streets, RCMP said in a news release Tuesday.
An off-duty officer who was driving with his police dog, Herc, witnessed the man yelling and saw him walk into traffic with “no apparent regard for his personal safety,” RCMP said.
He pulled into a mall parking lot and alerted other officers about the situation, then decided to follow the man to the intersection.
The man approached several people before the officer got out of his truck and tried to engage him in conversation, learning he was upset because he said someone had stolen his suitcase.
When the officer offered to help look for it, the man repeatedly told him to leave and threatened him and his police dog with death, according to RCMP.
“During their conversation, that lasted several minutes, the officer noted that the man was sweating profusely, acting erratically and was walking back and forth in to the flow of traffic,” police said.
Other officers arrived and the off-duty Mountie told the man he was under arrest, instructing him to get on the ground, but the man did not comply.
“Considering the volatility of the situation and risk to the man, Herc was deployed. With the assistance of other officers who had just arrived, the man was arrested and taken into police custody,” police said.
Witness video of the arrest shows Herc latch on to the man’s arm before police put him in handcuffs.
The man was then taken to hospital to be treated for several puncture wounds, then taken to holding cells at the Nanaimo RCMP detachment. He was then released with a court date for one count of uttering threats.
“This was an extremely volatile dynamic situation with significant risk to the man, the general public and the officer. Considering all the risk factors, the officer and Herc performed admirably,” Nanaimo RCMP spokesman Const. Gary O’Brien said in a statement.
Police say the man was later determined to be known to them and had previously been “flagged violent.” They said at the hospital, the man admitted to consuming a large amount of cocaine earlier in the day.
Watch witness video of the arrest below. (Warning: Graphic content)
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