The driver who crashed a car into the Pacific Coliseum during a Cirque Du Soleil performance earlier this year had been referred to a mental health team for psychosis in February last year, Global News has learned.
It was not clear whether the 30-year-old driver, who Global News is not identifying because they have not been charged, was being monitored at the time of the crash.
What’s also unclear is whether the driver is still being held. Neither the Ministry of Health nor Vancouver Coastal Health would say whether they remain in hospital under the Mental Health Act or have been released, citing patient confidentiality.
About 2,000 people were in the venue when the car ploughed into a concrete column and smashed through the Coliseum’s glass doors.
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Witnesses described hearing an “explosion” they initially thought was a part of the performance. Vancouver police said, remarkably, no one was injured or killed.
At the time, police said the driver was in psychosis, acting erratically and experiencing religious delusions.
He was apprehended under the Mental Health Act and taken to hospital.
Sources told Global News that police later seized psilocybin, the hallucinogenic drug in “magic” mushrooms, along with an airsoft pistol.
Vancouver police said Wednesday they were still reviewing the case to determine if criminal charges are warranted.
The driver does not have a previous history with police, criminal or otherwise.
-With files from Rumina Daya
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