A 32-year-old man has been arrested following threats to kill himself and others on a B.C. Transit bus, near Village Foods on Sooke Road, Thursday evening.
The man left the bus shortly before police arrived at about 6:15 p.m. He was arrested nearby.
He faces charges of uttering threats.
“This subject, who is very well known to police, was arrested yesterday, after reports were received of him screaming incoherently at another bus stop in Sooke, on Sooke Road,” Staff Sgt. Jeff McArthur said in a statement.
The man was taken by police to Royal Jubilee Hospital under the Mental Health Act, which allows police to admit someone against their will if they are a potential harm to themselves or others.
B.C. Transit said such disturbances are unusual on the quieter Sooke bus route.
“We’re aware of the disturbance on the bus. Our operator acted appropriately by contacting the transit supervisor and RCMP to attend. We’re glad the situation was resolved without anyone getting hurt,” said Jonathon Dyck, a B.C. Transit spokesperson.
Between April 2015 to April 2016, B.C. Transit recored more than 1,400 incidents on buses equipped with video surveillance cameras. Five-hundred of those incidents were investigated by transit police and ICBC.
Anyone with information on the Sooke incident is asked to contact police at 250-642-5241 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
