Man armed with a hatchet arrested after dramatic Kitchener, Ont. takedown

Viewer video shows a tense confrontation between a police officer and a man with a hatchet in Kitchener, Ont.

A dramatic arrest played out Wednesday on a busy Kitchener, Ont. street.

Video of the incident showed a struggle between an officer and a man who, at one point, was armed with a small hatchet.

The Waterloo Regional Police Service said it began around 5:20 p.m. when an officer got a hit from his automated license plate recognition (ALPR) scanner near Strasburg Road and Block Line Road. The plate was flagged as belonging to a disqualified driver.

Police said the driver, in an attempt to evade the officer, drove his truck into the intersection on a red light and was struck by another vehicle.

He then got out and, according to police, tried to fight the officer.

During the ensuing interaction, which was captured on camera, the officer used a conducted energy weapon, which was not effective, and wrestled with the driver on the ground.

The driver then returned to his truck, pulled out a hatchet and threatened the officer.

The video showed the officer pulling out his gun as the driver walked towards him with the weapon. The driver then returned to his truck where a conducted energy weapon was used again. The man then dropped to the ground and another officer kicked the hatchet away.

Multiple officers held down the driver as they took him into custody.

“At one point it looked like he had actually reached for the officer’s weapon, when he was down on the ground. That was pretty scary. It could have ended very differently,” said Matt Cunningham, who shared his video with CTV News. “Easily the craziest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. I felt like I was in a movie or a video game. I was bewildered by what I was seeing. I just couldn’t believe it.”

Police said the situation escalated quickly and at the busiest time of the day.

“On the commute home, it was still daylight, at a busy intersection in Kitchener,” Const. Brad Hickey explained. “An individual, when they have a weapon that could potentially hurt themselves [and] the officer, we have to keep in mind public safety.”

Police said three people in the other vehicle, involved in the initial crash, were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The driver of the truck, a 27-year-old Kitchener man, has been charged with possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest, assaulting a police officer with a weapon, disarming a police officer and dangerous operation of a vehicle.