Local man keeps police busy on Labour Day evening

A Kingston man was the subject of two different police calls over the span of four hours on Monday, Sept. 3, 2018.

At approximately 6:30 p.m., Kingston Police, Kingston Fire and Rescue, and Frontenac Paramedics all attended the foot of Cataraqui Street, where a man had reportedly been in the water for two to three hours. The 46-year-old man was floating on his back in the St. Lawrence River approximately 100 meters from shore, and concerned citizens had gathered along the shore. Worried for the man’s welfare, citizens called out to him asking him to get out of the water, but the man ignored the pleas. Members of Kingston Fire and Rescue went out in a dinghy and brought the man ashore, where he expressed that he didn’t understand what everyone was fussing about. The man told first responders he just wanted to cool off and relax in the water, according to Kingston Police.

Later that night, Kingston Police were called to a property on University Avenue at approximately 10:15 p.m. The landlord of the property contacted police because her tenants reported a suspicious couple in the backyard of the residence. Responding officers found the same man from the incident in the water was one of the two people in the backyard. The man seem agitated, and an officer noticed he had something in his waistband, which turned out to be a needle. The man then began raising his voice, and he was arrested for breach of the peace and handcuffed. Somehow, the man was able to manoeuver the handcuffs to the front of his body while on route to Kingston Police Headquarters. A search of the man uncovered some wet tobacco, but nothing illegal. No charges were laid.