Vancouver police used a bean bag gun on Saturday in an attempt to subdue a man they say was acting erratically and later jumped into a police cruiser.
The incident happened just before 8 a.m. near Jack Poole Plaza, where witness Jason Mitchell said thousands of people had gathered for the Sea Wheeze marathon.
Mitchell was in a nearby tower, when he said he heard a disturbance from below.
“I heard a little bit of commotion and a bit of screaming, so I looked out the window and I thought maybe it’s the marathon,” he said.
“But it was somebody that the police encountered, and it looks like someone jumped into the police vehicle and possibly potentially steal it.”
Police said security from the Fairmont Pacific Rim had called 911 asking for help, saying that a man was fighting with security and possibly having a mental health crisis.
When officers arrived, the man was on the street in front of the hotel and “appeared to be under the influence of drugs,” said Const. Jason Robillard.
“The man had gotten a fire extinguisher, was now spraying people at random and refused to listen to the officers’ commands to stop. ”
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Robillard said officers fired several rounds with a bean bag gun, which appeared to have no effect on the man.
“The man then ran into the driver’s seat of a patrol car and fought with several officers but was arrested shortly after,” he said.
Cell phone video shot from a window above the scene shows police swarming the man and pinning him onto the ground.
Police say the man was in his late 30s to early 40s and has not been identified.
Robillard said the man will be taken to jail when he is released from hospital later on Saturday and could now face several criminal charges related to mischief and assault.
B.C.’s civilian police watchdog, the Independent Investigation Office, said it has not been notified of the incident.