Naked man refuses help from rescuers during early morning swim in Nanaimo
By Contributor
A naked man escaped injury after falling into distress in Nanaimo.
Tuesday morning at approximately 8:30 a.m., the Nanaimo RCMP received a 9-1-1 call reporting that there was a man in distress in the water near Stone’s Marina and Newcastle Island.
Nanaimo Search and Rescue was contacted and responded. Efforts were made to get the man out of the water but he was uncooperative with rescuers, and threatened to harm them. The man ended up swimming to shore, and proceeded to run away from rescuers.
The man was naked at the time and his erratic behavior which caused police to have concern for his safety and that of the public. A police dog handler was transported to Newcastle Island by Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue boat and a track was quickly established.
The police dog and handler located the man a short time later and he was taken into custody without further incident.
The man was transported to Nanaimo Regional Hospital where he was medically cleared.
He has been taken back to the Nanaimo Detachment, where an investigation into the day’s events continues.
