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Man carrying pickaxe along Oak Bay Avenue apprehended

Man taken to hospital for mental health assessment
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A man carried a pickaxe down Oak Bay Avenue before being apprehended by police on Jan. 8. (Courtesy Oak Bay Police)

A man has been taken to the hospital for a mental health assessment after police received several calls of a man yelling and walking down Oak Bay Avenue with a pickaxe.

Calls came in around 1:13 p.m. Jan. 8 and officers quickly arrived on scene. The man fled into a coffee shop where he was tackled by police.

Deputy Chief Ray Bernoties said the man is known to police, but that criminal charges are unlikely.

Bernoties said this would be classified as a mental health call, something the local department saw a 25 per cent increase in last year.

“Statistically, this means it’s unlikely to be tracked as a crime,” Bernoties noted. “In other words, despite the potentially dangerous situation, police get no statistical credit for having attended this or other similar calls.”

No one was injured as a result of this incident.



jesse.laufer@oakbaynews.com

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