Man arrested after threatening New West hospital staff with weapon

The New Westminster Police Department says a man has been arrested after threatening hospital staff earlier this month.

Shortly before 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 4, officers were dispatched to the Royal Columbian Hospital after a 911 call reported that the man was threatening to harm staff.

“When officers arrived, they located the man and observed he was armed with an edged weapon,” police said.

“Attempts to de-escalate the situation were made. The man refused to comply with police instructions to drop the weapon. After some time, police used a conducted energy weapon to safely take the man into custody.”

Jonathan Acorn, Fraser Health’s director of operations for integrated protection services, says he can’t share details about the man’s care history.

“We can confirm they were admitted to Royal Columbian Hospital earlier that day,” Acorn said.

“They have since been discharged and are no longer in our care.”

Earlier this year, BC Nurses Union president Adriane Gear said urgent action needs to be taken in terms of better security and updated violence prevention training for health-care workers.

“Health-care spaces are becoming less safe. In fact, in some instances, they’re just dangerous,” Gear said in July.

“And so what are we going to do about it? Let’s stop fighting about it. Stop being political. Let’s stop weaponizing it. Let’s lean into it and come up with some solutions.”

— With files from Charlie Carey and Raynaldo Suarez.