It’s happened several times in Victoria, and now a Metro Vancouver paramedic is warning the public about what he believes was a syringe placed intentionally to hurt someone.
Will Rogers shared a Facebook post about the incident, which said it happened on Monday and involved an automatic door button.
“A syringe was intentionally manipulated (bent) so that the exposed sharp was sticking out, with the obvious intention to poke anyone reaching for the button,” said the post, which Rogers shared from a private Facebook group for paramedics.
The post included a photo recreation of the syringe’s placement along with the description.
Vancouver police confirm the incident was reported while paramedics were on a call at the Lux Hotel on East Hastings Street in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
Police said no one was injured, but that they were unable to locate witnesses, video or a suspect.
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Vancouver Coastal Health spokesperson Tiffany Akins said that while the incident is disturbing, it should not cause undue alarm.
“The risk to the public is extremely low, no one has ever acquired HIV or any other pathogen from a needle stick injury from a discarded needle.”
BC Emergency Health Services, which operates the province’s ambulances, called the incident an extremely rare occurrence.
The report comes after a string of similar incidents in Victoria recently.
Last summer, a syringe was taped to the underside of a handrail in a parking lot in that city, and police issued two separate warnings in January after two different women were pricked by needles. In at least one of those cases, police said the needle appeared to have been deliberately placed.