A driver was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries after he crashed into parked cars on Cook Street, then brandished a large knife before being struck by several non-lethal rounds fired by Saanich police Thursday afternoon.
The man was in “medical distress,” police said.
A witness said the incident started with an argument involving a tenant and landlord at a gas station at Quadra and Cook.
A man in a small red car then sped east on Cook Street and ran over a median before crashing into parked vehicles near Bellevue Road, knocking one on its side against a hedge.
A witness said the driver was brandishing a large butcher knife and making threats.
Half a dozen police cars quickly arrived on the scene and officers shot the man with several non-lethal rounds before he could be subdued. A dog in the man’s vehicle was appeared to be unhurt.
TJ Chandler was walking home from work along Cook Street when the situation unfolded.
Chandler said she saw the car speed by and thought its emergency brake was engaged because it was squealing and smoke was coming from the tires. “I started running because I could see he was going out of control.”
The driver ran over a median, swerved and hit one parked vehicle, then another. Chandler, who has first-aid training, approached to see if she could help him.
“There was one or two other people already there. Somebody had already called 911.”
They asked how the driver was but he responded by yelling at them, she said.
“We were trying to ask him if he was OK and he was telling us to go away.”
Chandler tried to talk to the man from the passenger side by moving the air bag, but he remained agitated and threatened to hurt the people trying to help.
“So we all backed away.”
He then pulled out a knife and and continued to yell, Chandler said.
Police arrived about five minutes later, she said.
At one point, the man put the knife to his neck, and after one of the non-lethal rounds, he removed his clothes.
“It was very unnerving, not what you expect when you come home from work in the middle of the day. It was scary.”
She praised the efforts of emergency personnel.
“The police were awesome — they were focused on keeping everybody safe and everybody back. They tried to keep the guy safe, tried to talk him down.”
jbell@timescolonist
>>> Video of scene at Cook Street and Quadra Street on July 7, 2022
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