A man who police say walked into traffic with a knife in his hand in Bloordale Village on Monday afternoon has been arrested.
Investigators received reports of a man swinging a buck knife around at Bloor Street and Lansdowne Avenue, approaching Lansdowne subway station around 1:30 p.m.
Police deployed a rubber bullet gun – a non-lethal weapon which uses fabric, sock-like bullets – in order to seize the knife, according to Const. Victor Kwong. He noted that the suspect was not struck during the altercation.
"It was a bright orange and black gun," a witness, Conor Devitt told CTV News Toronto on Monday evening. "When I saw that I figured it probably wasn't a lethal firearm."
“It was confirmed the man was in distress the man was in distress and waving around a knife. So they resorted to a less lethal force of weapon which was a sock gun unfortunately it was deemed ineffective,” said Const. Jenniferjit Sidhu.
Another sergeant who later arrived on scene eventually used a taser to subdue the man, police said.
A man, believed to be in his 30s, was taken into custody.
No injuries were reported during the confrontation with police. The man was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital, according to Kwong.
To province's police watchdog -- the Special Investigation's Unit -- says it will not be invoking their mandate on this interaction.
'Perfect example of police de-escalation'
The incident is being investigated, but Toronto police union president Mike McCormack called the interaction "a perfect example of police de-escalation."
The sock gun was introduced following the death of teenager Sammy Yatim in 2013. The 18-year-old was shot eight times on an empty streetcar by a Toronto police officer.
It was introduced into the force's arsenal last year in order to give officers a less-lethal option in lieu of a regular gun in situations where force may be required.
