I don't know man, I was there today, traffic was held up for at least an hour, and there were at least 20 cops, caused quite a scene as always huge crowds standing by. I just went to walk around robson cause I didn't expect my bus to be coming anytime soon.

But at the end of the day, everything seems pretty OK so yeah, I guess the situation was handled alright

well yeah

even with all those cops he still ran quite far etc etc

but at least they didnt put a few into him; i guess all the bad press has finally gotten them to act differently when its in front of the public

"Officers then shot Taser barbs at the man but police believe they were repelled by the man’s thick leather jacket, Houghton said."


Note to self: Wear leather jacket if want to go crazy

Pretty much the only press you get with cops is bad press, that's because scandalous news sells stories, it's not the case 99% of the time but that's the sad fact, and the public is dumb enough to point fingers at our police for that 1% of the time they do slip up. Although I think you'd always look like a hero if a crazy man with a sword is running through crowded streets haha, it's not like it was a half dead homeless guy in a wheel chair.

took 18 cops to stop him

lol at the office who tried to trip him

this explains all the cop cars there yesterday

Should have just released the dog after him... :D

damn, it's hard to watch that video. The guy definitely has some issues and it's obvious from what he was yelling at the beginning of the ctv video. I hope he gets the help he needs. But it's time to shed some light on this...

The big sword was not a kirpan. Don't get it twisted and don't spread things if you don't know. As you can see in the video, the kirpan was the smaller one that is sealed shut. The bigger sword is a sword and not a kirpan. It's a weapon and has nothing to do with religion. His kirpan which is religious was never used as a weapon or in a threatening way. As it was mentioned before, kirpans are supposed to be sealed shut but yes, there is not real way to actually know if it is sealed or not. But i just felt like i had to clear up that the sword was not a kirpan and is not religious or anything. The kirpan was the smaller dagger in the video and in canada, you will most likely never find someone wearing a kirpan that has a blade bigger than a foot let alone a few inches.

I'm really glad this thing isn't becoming a huge "omg sikhs do carry knives and swords, gotta legislate them!". I was really worried that was what the headlines were gonna be when I saw the videos and pictures of this incident. Hopefully this is just another mentally unstable person who had an unfortunate trigger and the media makes sure to keep seeing it that way.

lol, an entire army for one sword wielding man.

no kidding, thats 1 platoon on one man

the dog didn't do shit except for claiming the reward after the cops caught the dude.

:lol

I think swords and kirpans are already covered under carrying weapons in public, which may be why there might not be much outcry. Also gotta remember, we are way more liberal/tolerant here than in the States or France. I wonder how we stack up against some of the other commonwealth countries?

well it wasn't because it didn't want to. It looked like it was ready to go to town. It was the trainer that held it back.

Though, I guess they realized letting the dog maul the guy wouldn't be the best idea in front of a couple hundred people.

What are you insinuating? Maybe they should've just sent an officer or two, placed a well-aimed shot into the man's testicles upon arrival, high-fived each other for the job well-done, then took the guy to jail, all while contemplating if they beat any world records for fastest takedown?

Although at first, my feelings towards this man and story were simply anger because of his lack of logic and choice of expression...But now I just feel sad for the guy.

Mental illness is nothing to laugh about. Although the situation, or the way it unfolded in the media may be some what comical, I think it's important for us to remember that someone's quality of life is not the same as ours. This man is obviously distraught with some sort of mental illness and will not/does not get to enjoy the same quality of life that most of us do.

I am not excusing the actions, I am simply insisting that we do not mock a man with a handicap. I usually don't say this and all my family who are Members of the force will be surprised if they hear me say this, but I am glad the police handled the situation the way they did. Without being there of course, it appears that the threat was minimized in the safest way possible to all parties involved. Kudos to the police on this one...

Should have just let the dog chase the guy and chew on his ASS.

This..

People whine about how it took 18 officers too take him down and people would still whine if only a cop or two took him down...

atleast the job was done right and no one was hurt...

the sheath for the larger sword certainly looked like it has the same designs as the one 7seven posted granted a different style of sword though but im not sure if there's any religious significance with that

Just to better educate you guys, the sword is sometimes used in a weapon-based performance art that was created by the Sikhs in Punjab during the British Empire. The name of this performance art is "Gatka." It has no direct symbolism toward the Sikh religion.


The Kirpan, however, IS a religious symbol for Sikhism.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatka & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirpan