It took close to six hours, a crisis negotiator, and a lot of patience to get a distraught Chemainus man to safety Thursday.
The officer in charge of the North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP detachment confirmed Friday that a 35-year-old was detained under the mental health act following the incident.
“We were in the Chemainus area about 4 p.m. yesterday and we were dealing with this fellow on an unrelated matter,” explained Insp. Ray Carfantan. “We knocked on the door and he presented himself with a knife. We were dealing with a distressed individual and in our dealings with him he became violent towards our member, he ended up on the roof of the thrift store.”
Carfantan said police contained the area and evacuated people to make sure they were safe and the man on the roof didn’t feel threatened.
The fire department was on hand with a ladder truck, as were paramedics.
“We brought in some crisis negotiators and managed to negotiate him off the roof. He was detained under the Mental Health Act and we took him for a medical assessment and we’re just very, very happy that we got him off the roof without injuring himself or any bystanders or police.”