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B.C.’s independent investigator into police incidents has concluded that Vancouver officers did nothing wrong when they failed to apprehend a potentially suicidal man less than an hour before he jumped from the Granville Bridge and was seriously injured.
A witness saw the man walking over the bridge on Nov. 23, 2023, noting he “looked like he wanted to jump,” according to the report issued Thursday by interim chief civilian director Sandra J. Hentzen of the Independent Investigations Office of B.C. (IIO).
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The witness talked to the man, who said he did want to jump, but convinced him to walk to the north end of the bridge where the witness would buy them some food from a pizza parlour. The witness then called 911.
Several officers arrived and talked to the man, who told them he was feeling better after some food and water and just wanted to find a warm place to sleep for the night. He said he might call his mother in Kitsilano.
The witness said the officers were “very nice” and offered the man their help. Their reports later said he seemed calm and happy, was “on the right track,” and promised to take his medications and go to counselling. One officer followed him back onto the bridge to get his mother’s address and again found him in good spirits.
A half-hour later, the officer spotted the man still on Granville Bridge and circled back to check on him. By the time they turned around, he had disappeared and a call had gone out about someone jumping from the bridge. The man had landed in a parking lot and was taken to hospital in critical condition.
The IIO investigation had to determine if police met a reasonable standard of care. Hentzen determined it would have been “unreasonable” to have taken him in under the Mental Health Act given his apparent state of mind, and might even have amounted to assault.
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“It will never be known if (the man) was simply misleading the officers with a false display of calm and positivity, or if he was truthful with them, his mood darkening again after he left them,” said Hentzen.
“Either way, all of the involved officers performed their duties appropriately, and they are not responsible for (the man’s) unfortunate decision.”
Hentzen concluded there are no “reasonable grounds to believe that an officer may have committed an offence” and no report will be forwarded to prosecutors.
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