Traffic along Terminal Avenue has been reopened in Nanaimo following an early morning incident.
The situation began around 6:30 a.m. on Thursday, October 12th when officers responded to the Castaway Motel on Terminal Avenue near the corner of Bryden Street.
Nanaimo RCMP say that a family member of a 31-year-old man called in to the station seeking a well-being check because he had been acting erratically and believed he was at the motel.
Officers responded and spoke with the man for a short time before realizing that he was experiencing a mental health crisis.
Police say they disengaged the man in crisis and contained the area by closing off traffic while the RCMP Emergency Response Team (ERT), a crisis negotiator and the Nanaimo RCMP Mental Health Liaison Officer were called in to take over the situation.
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R/Cst Gary O’Brien, Media Relations Officer for Nanaimo RCMP told Victoria Buzz that because police officers did not know for sure if the man had a weapon or not, they chose to close Terminal Avenue out of an abundance of caution.
Police say at that point officers attempted to persuade the man to leave his room but were unsuccessful in their efforts.
At around 9:30 a.m. the ERT entered his motel room and apprehended him. According to police, he was then transported to hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.
When he was taken into custody police discovered he had no weapons on him or in his room and so no criminal code charges will be pressed against the man as a result of the incident.
“This was an extremely volatile and potentially dangerous situation that was resolved successfully by utilizing RCMP resources and officers who are trained to deal with these types of situations,” said R/Cst O’Brien.
