A dramatic arrest played out Wednesday on a busy Kitchener, Ont. street.
Video of the incident showed a struggle between an officer and a man who, at one point, was armed with a small hatchet.
The Waterloo Regional Police Service said it began around 5:20 p.m. when an officer got a hit from his automated license plate recognition (ALPR) scanner near Strasburg Road and Block Line Road. The plate was flagged as belonging to a disqualified driver.
“When the officer went to turn around the [driver] went through the intersection and was involved in a collision,” Staff Sgt. Matt Halliday said.
The truck’s driver then got out and, according to police, tried to fight the officer.
During the ensuing interaction, which was captured on camera, the officer used a conducted energy weapon, which was not effective, and wrestled with the driver on the ground.
The driver then returned to his truck, pulled out a hatchet and threatened the officer.
The video showed the officer pulling out his gun as the driver walked towards him with the weapon. The driver then returned to his truck where a conducted energy weapon was used again. The man dropped to the ground and another officer kicked the hatchet away.
Multiple officers held down the driver as they took him into custody.
“At one point it looked like he had actually reached for the officer’s weapon, when he was down on the ground. That was pretty scary. It could have ended very differently,” said Matt Cunningham, who shared his video with CTV News. “Easily the craziest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. I felt like I was in a movie or a video game. I was bewildered by what I was seeing. I just couldn’t believe it.”
He also praised the efforts by police.
“I thought the officer did an astounding job controlling the situation,” Cunningham explained. “There were four or five police cars on the scene within two minutes. I felt it was a very prompt response and the officers did a great job controlling the situation.”
Halliday was also satisfied with the result.
“We’re very proud of our officer’s response.”
Police said the situation escalated quickly and at the busiest time of the day.
“On the commute home, it was still daylight, at a busy intersection in Kitchener,” Const. Brad Hickey explained. “An individual, when they have a weapon that could potentially hurt themselves [and] the officer, we have to keep in mind public safety.”
Police said three people in the other vehicle, involved in the initial crash, were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The driver of the truck, a 27-year-old Kitchener man, has been charged with possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest, assaulting a police officer with a weapon, disarming a police officer and dangerous operation of a vehicle.
Reaction to Kitchener incident
Chris Lewis, a former OPP commissioner and CTV’s public safety analyst, shared his reaction to the arrest.
“The man was obviously large, powerful, and the officers showed incredible restraint,” he said. “[The officer] handled it very well, very professionally. I was very impressed.”
Police, he added, often have to make critical decisions in a split second.
“The use of force by police is governed by the use of force by the suspect,” Lewis explained. “[If] the suspect is very submissive, it’s simple. If the suspect gets aggressive, then it becomes more difficult, and more use of force has to be applied to get an individual under control.”
There are more considerations when a weapon is involved.
“When an officer is going to use their firearm, they really have to look at a whole pile of factors besides the justification. Do they feel their life under threat? Or the life of someone else? But also, what’s the backdrop like?” he said. “Would you start firing shots when there’s obviously a crowd behind?”
Lewis praised the officer’s restraint.
“You could see how quickly [the interaction] could have changed at any point along the way and then, suddenly, the officer has to go to deadly force,” he said. “In this case, it wasn’t required, thankfully, and ultimately, it ended without any loss of life.”
